Out-of-bounds(A Harry Potter Fanfiction)
by Shehjaar
Summary: Rose Weasley is an almost perfect girl-top of her year, Gryffindor Chaser, calm and composed. However there is one person whom she just cannot stand-arch rival Scorpius Malfoy. Read more to find out about their slowly-blossoming bittersweet friendship and more...
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise or any of the characters. Warner Bros. and J K Rowling does. I do not claim owning it; this is just a piece of my imagination.**

 **I may have done a horrible job writing this and I apologize thoroughly to those who think so! As this is the first time I am doing this , please forgive me for not having done a great job. I hope you enjoy!**

 **Out-of-bounds ( A Scorpius/Rose fanfiction)**

 **CHAPTER-1)** **The smell of mangoes**

She was late. She, Rose Weasley- top of her year, Gryfffindor Chaser , serious candidate for becoming Gryffindor prefect the next year, model student, daughter of Hermione Granger-Weasley and Ronald Weasley and favourite niece of Harry Potter – was late for class. No , it was not possible. But even as she considered reassuring herself that this was all a dream, she found herself sprinting down the empty corridor of Hogwarts, towards the dungeons. Her flaming red hair was flying behind her, and her bright blue eyes had widened with terror at the prospect of being late for Potions.

At long last, she reached her destination. 'M-may I come in P-professor M-mulier?' she stammered , her stomach lurching, more from fear than from hunger. 'So- Miss Weasley. Do you have any particular reason for being late? I suppose not. Taking into consideration that this is the first time you have failed me, I shall not take away any points. Please take a seat.' Rose timidly nodded, her cheeks going the same colour as her long bushy hair.

She stepped forward to take up her usual seat among the fouth- year Gryffindors beside her cousin Roxanne Weasley , carefully avoiding the snide remaks of the Slytherins , when her heart sank. Roxanne had already got someone to accompany her- a lanky Slytherin boy she vaguely remembered as Adrian Nott. Casting her cousin a reproachful look, she looked around the empty classroom , to find just one vacant seat- and her heart sank even lower.

Scorpius Malfoy was sitting right beside it. She inwardly let out a groan of despair- Double Potions with Malfoy was certainly something she would probably never look forward to. However, there was a slight improvement. Albus Severus Potter, her favourite cousin , was sitting to the left of Malfoy.

Feeling relieved and reluctant at the same time, she settled down in that seat. Albus gave her a dazzling smile which she heartily returned; Malfoy, she simply ignored.

'Now , as I was asking you all- before Miss Weasley's interruption-'said Professor Mulier( Rose went red again) 'What is a bezoar? And what is it used for?'

Rose's well-practised hand shot into the air, and so did Malfoy's, though quite lazily and indifferently. Professor Mulier seemed to linger for several seconds before speaking in a solemn voice, 'Very well. Miss Weasley can tell me what exactly a bezoar is. Mr. Malfoy can tell me about its uses.'

' A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat.' chanted Rose.' 'Very well. Ten points to Gryffindor.'said Professor. ' Now...Mr. Malfoy?'

Malfoy got up from his seat. For the first time in her life, Rose seemed to notice how tall and athletic his build was, or how very apple-red his lips were, or...

' ...from most poisons.' finished Malfoy in a calm and composed voice. Rose shook herself. Strangely , she seemed to have missed most of what he had just said. How very strange. She had almost even missed out Professor awarding ten points to Slytherin. So very uncharacteristic of her.

Malfoy settled down, stretching his arms slightly , lying his back comfortably against the back of the chair. This brought him in close proximity with Rose, who suddenly became conscious of that fruity scent of mangoes coming from him...

' What exactly are you trying to do, Weasley?' asked Malfoy ,sounding annoyed. 'W-what?' whispered Rose blankly. 'You're _sniffing_ at me , Weasley!' ' No!' muttered Rose, the colour high in her cheeks. And though she could see only an edge of Albus' face , she could clearly tell that he was resisting the urge to laugh.

'Oh,' whispered Malfoy indifferently, ' It's not _your_ fault, to be honest. I'm just irresistible.' Anger boiled inside Rose like it had never before. 'You're _not_ irresistible, Malfoy.'she snapped , glaring at him. 'You're just an arrogant prat!' And when he no longer paid any attention to her , she reverted her attention to Professor Mulier , which she had definitely not been doing all that time.

'Rose- ROSE! Are you even listening to me?' shrieked James Sirius Potter, gaping at Rose, who for the first time realized that her cousin was literally shouting at her during dinner in the Great Hall. With a great effort she jerked herself and stuttered, ' OH-hi James-Were you telling me something?' She then gave him an unconvincing smile.

'What's wrong?' he demanded with an air of superiority. 'Wrong?' repeated Rose blankly. James shook his head, frowned and then spoke with concern, ' So there _is_ something wrong. You haven't been yourself at lunch or right now. Roxy told me that you were late for class this morning. And she also mentioned that you did not answer any question in class after Potions all day long...and I've noticed that it has become hard to distinguish between your hair and your cheeks.'

' I- well- I'm alright...what could be the matter with me?' said Rose with a firmer voice. 'You know what, James?I think these are the after-effects of the mild sleeping draught I slipped into her pumpkin juice yesterday.' smirked Fred Weasley Jr., who had just taken a seat adjacent to James. ' So _that's_ why I overslept today!' cried Rose indignantly. ' Oh well , I hate to see my cousin overworking herself.' Said Fred, winking at her. James roared with laughter.

' Oh, well, I'm sleepy...it's been a long day .Good night.' yawned Rose, getting up. ' I'll tell Roxy to wake you up, Rosie. Early morning Quidditch practice has a unique charm.'said James , puffing out his 'Gryffindor Captain' badge .Rose smiled slightly and then trotted off, glancing at the Slytherin table to see Albus laughing with Malfoy. Malfoy looked up at her , smirked and then looked away , looking bored. Blushing furiously , Rose fought hard to not think of his steely grey eyes...but there was simply no denying that he smelt amazingly like juicy mangoes.

This is the end of chapter 1. I don't know when the next will come out. Reviews are welcome.


	2. Chapter 2: A Flying Fiasco

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise or any of the characters. Warner Bros. and J K Rowling does. I do not claim owning it; this is just a piece of my imagination.**

 **I may have done a horrible job writing this and I apologize thoroughly to those who think so! However, I have tried my best and I sincerely hope you enjoy reading this!**

 **PS: This chapter will be longer than the last one.**

Out-Of-Bounds( A Scorpius/Rose Fanfiction)

Chapter 2: A Flying Fiasco

Rose could feel Roxy shaking her vigorously as she lay in her comfortable bed, eyes tightly shut, faking sleep. 'Rose-ROSE! I don't know what's gotten into you lately... you were _never_ such a sleepyhead! Get up now! James is barking his head off! He could throw you off the team if you keep delaying practice! ROSE!'

Had it not been for the supposed threat of her Captain , Rose would probably not have cared stirring from her soft, warm bed. However, the prospect of being kicked off the team was a little too much. Therefore, while Roxy heaved great sighs of relief , she scrambled across the room to get her Quidditch robes and was down in the Common Room in 5 minutes.

All her team members seemed utterly relieved to see her, including James. However, relief was not the only expression etched upon James' face -he looked so furious as he paced around the room that Rose was half-surprised at the absence of smoke emerging from his ears.

'So-Miss Weasley ,'he raged (Rose registered the use of her surname) 'I see that being the Captain's cousin has given you a false sense of security- ' His raging and glaring and bawling continued all the way down to the Quidditch pitch.

Once there, however, his face lighted up with a mad hungry look. 'Ideal Quidditch conditions!' he barked excitedly. ' Now.' he continued on a more serious note. 'The Quidditch Cup should have been ours last year. But I didn't get a chance to lift it last time. However close we were to our goal, we were narrowly defeated by Slytherin. This year, we train harder and longer. I know we've got that x-factor in us. The Tournament will be ours this year!' There was a fiery glint in his eyes. 'Yes , Captain!' came the general murmur of agreement.

'Our first match is against Slytherin. They've finally got rid of that human road-roller Zabini-they've got a new Seeker; and I'm afraid to say that he's pretty good.' said James, frowning with dislike.

'Who is it?' piped up Daisy Finnigan and Ben , Chasers.

' Scorpius Malfoy.'

Rose,s stomach gave a powerful lurch as she let out a long groan. And she was not the only one. Fred and Palak Thomas , Beaters, scowled heavily and the Seeker, Amanda Smith rolled her eyes and said,' Bet his Daddy bought him his way in.'

'Well, anyways,' continued James, 'Enough of pep-talks. Everyone- except Fred and Palak- take up your usual positions. Fred and Palak- on my signal, release the balls and then join the game.'

They all did as instructed; Amanda , being the Seeker hovered above them all, James was guarding the goalposts and Rose, Daisy and Ben were ready for the quaffle to come out.

On James' signal , Fred and Palak released the Quaffle, Bludgers and Snitch...the game spun into exciting was nothing very eventful about the practice, because Rose was quite used to her team's brilliant flying.

Amanda caught the Snitch after twenty minutes and James immediately roared at them to get back to ground. ' It was not too bad,' Rose could vaguely make out him telling Daisy and Ben, 'At this rate, I'm positive about our chances against Slytherin.'

They were all abruptly distracted by a loud scream from Fred and Palak. ' The Bludger- the Budger,' stuttered Palak, 'I tried putting it in the trunk and- it _escaped_...I'm so sorry James , it almost broke my neck...I couldn't...I'm _so sorry.'_ The team gasped. A lose Bludger in the grounds of Hogwarts was definitely not a cheerful bit of news. However , James patted her on the shoulder and soothingly said, ' Don't worry Palak...we'll tell Madame Hooch about it..' Then he turned to the rest of the team and said, ' You all can now get back to the castle; I'll tell you about the next practice session later on. I'll just be there, while Fred can help me carry the trunk up to the castle...seeing as I still haven't mastered the Locomoter charm.'

Under normal conditions, Rose would have willingly told James that _she_ knew how to do it and that she would be glad to help him out. However, the previous day's confrontation- well , not _confrontation_ , but the increasingly conspicuous presence of Scorp- no- _Malfoy-_ had left her longing for some time alone on a mild flying session. After all, it was Sunday - breakfast could wait.

So she told her cousins to go on without her and that she would be right back. James was on the verge of arguing but Fred stopped him, smirked and said, 'Yeah whatever...we'll leave you in peace to meet your _special_ boy.' ' I _haven't_ got a special someone , Fred.' said Rose at once, although the heart of her heart's heart thought otherwise...

' Whatever, ickle Rosie... See ya!' winked Fred and grasping the trunk along with James(who didn't find the prospect of his cousin meeting a boy amusing), trotted off.

Rose sighed heavily, got onto her broom and kicked off from the ground. _Special_ boy...indeed...she thought. The word 'Special' seemed to have pasted Scorpius Malfoy's face in her mind with a permanent sticking charm. _Not Malfoy..._ she thought... _anyone but him..._

 **BAM!**

Her head felt thick and heavy... blood was spurting from her nose...she was falling fast and heavily...she was going to _bleed to her death...and yet nobody was watching..._

But ...no...she was slowing down...but _how?_ Her body gently came to stop on the ground with a soft _thud..._ Someone was running with his wand held aloft towards her...Then a terrified and anguished voice, ' Merlin! Rose! _Rose!'_ Pale hands clasped her arms...and this was all she knew before she passed out.

' James! Hugo! She's awake!' cried Albus' and Lily's voice. Rose opened her eyes and got up in warm, comfortable bed...the _Hospital Wing..._ she thought.

The Potter- Weasley clan of Hogwarts surrounded her. She could see Hugo , Albus , James, Lily, Fred , Roxanne , Dominiques and Louis, her part- Veela cousins, and Lucy. Relief was etched upon their faces.

'Rose!' said Dominique, fondly stroking her face, which was when Rose realized that her head was covered with bandages. ' I was so scared!' cried Lily in her childish , sing – song voice.

'Mind telling us what happened?' echoed James and Fred. Hugo , Louis , Lucy and Roxy murmured in agreement. ' Yeah- Rose,' said Albus, ' I was doing detention in here when Scorp turned up carrying you-'

' It was the loose Bludger, James,' said Rose, cutting across Albus, ' But wait Al- did you say _Malfoy? Malfoy?_ He was not _carrying_ me, surely?' With every minute , Rose found her face growing hotter and sweatier. Malfoy. Had. Saved. Her. Life. He. Had. Carried. Her. To. The. Hospital. Wing... She felt stupid and embarrassed.

'Oh yes Rose, Scorpius was _carrying you,'_ said Albus rather sheepishly. Fred smirked. _Again._ 'And a good thing he did too...you were in a right state...if he hadn't found you...' said Hugo, shuddering. They all went quiet.

' _Can't_ my patient get proper rest? OUT!' boomed the voice of the matron , Madame Pomfrey . They all said goodbye to Rose and cleared out, leaving Rose to drink a particularly disgusting potion, her heart racing.

And blushing furiously on imagining _Scorpius_ saving her life, she kep her goblet on the bedside table and plunged into the darkness of sleep, the terrified voice of Scorpius as he cried ' Rose!' echoing in her ears.

 **A/N: I had fun writing this one, because now I could give tiny hints about how much Scorpius cared for Rose. Reviews are welcome!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise or any of the characters. Warner Bros. and J K Rowling does. I do not claim owning it; this is just a piece of my imagination.**

 **Just a short not- this will be the last fouth-year chapter. After this the setting will shift to fifth- year. There may be a Scorpius POV coming up. Enjoy!**

Out-Of-Bounds (A Scorpius-Rose fanficton )

Chapter 3) Library

Rose was not discharged from the hospital wing until the following evening , despite her protests against Madame Pomfrey that unless she began with her Potions essay soon enough, she would surely get a 'T' on it. Obviously, it would have taken much more than a 14- year-old's feeble protests to make Madame Pomfrey discharge a student before due time.

Albus had dropped by to say 'Good Morning' before breakfast. The ' Good Morning' , it soon transpired, was merely an opportunity for Albus to cheekily ask Rose whether Malfoy was good ' carrier' . Turning a deep shade of magenta, Rose threw a cauldron full of Bubotuber pus at him, which he ducked and turned into a paper aeroplane. Grinning innocently at Rose, Albus said , ' Nice wandwork , isn't it Rose? Uncle George taught me.' 'It would be better if you payed MORE attention in the Transfiguration class than to Uncle George , Albus Severus.' she retorted _._ ' Ah well, gotta go, Rosie. Bye!' Albus winked at her, and then trotted off to Breakfast.

The rest of the day passed with a few visits from Hugo and Lily, Louis and Roxy, all of whom turned up with Get-Well-Soon cards. At 6 in the evening, she was free to go. Rose smiled at Madame Pomfrey, said ' Goodbye!' and left the Hospital Wing.

Once out of this relaxing atmosphere, however, stress rushed in upon her from all sides. So many classes had been missed, including the lesson on Summoning charms, so much of homework was to be done, and she hadn't even started yet!

Yet, what she was dreading and fretting over the most was- saying Thanks to Scorpius. How could she face him? She had literally ignored his presence for three full years, scowled at him, avoided him- and yet he had saved her life. Shamefaced, she furrowed her brow and kept walking, lost in thought, when she abruptly sensed a tall figure in the till- then-deserted corridor. _Speak of the Devil._

Scorpius Malfoy whirled round to face her, his pale and handsome features bearing the usual cold expression . The setting sun had cast a reddish tinge to his windswept white- blonde hair. _Merlin,_ thought Rose with a pang, _He looks like a Weasley! He could even become one if..._ _ **WHAT IN THE NAME OF DUMBLEDORE IS WRONG WITH ME?**_

An uncomfortable silence seemed to linger on and on for ages...

Rose nervously fidgeted with her curly red locks, tucking them behind her ears. Finally , plucking up every bit of courage she possessed, she shakily said, not once meeting his steely eyes, ' Th-Thanks for- Thanks for today.' Then she raised her bright blue eyes and looked into his grey ones for a fraction of a second, immediately turning scarlet and dropping her gaze.

Scorpius ran a pale hand through his hair and said, 'Whatever, I'm used to it.'

'Used to _what_ exactly?'

'Saving damsels in distress.'

Rose scowled heavily and spoke in a voice loaded with fury. ' I was not a damsel in distress. I was just- well – hurt!'

'Same difference, really.' he said, smirking.

Rose glared at him for a second or two, her hand grabbing her wand. At the same time, his hand powerfully gripped hers and coldly said, 'No need for wands , Weasley.' Pause. 'And stop blushing so much, it's disturbing.'

'I am _not_ blushing, Mr. Malfoy. And why would I, anyway, you arrogant prat?' Rose hissed angrily.

'Because of me, obviously.' said Malfoy simply. Then, he turned on his heel and walked away, before Rose could complete saying , ' Excuse me- ', leaving her exasperated.

When Rose entered the Gryffindor Common Room fifteen minutes later, the Lily ran towards her and hugged her tightly, and Roxy, thumping her on her back, grinned at her and said, 'So you're back!' James , Fred and Hugo looked up from their game of Exploding Snap and waved towards her. Dominique was nowhere to be seen.

As Rose sank onto an armchair by the fireplace near Roxy's seat, she inquired curiously, 'Say Roxy- where's Dom?' Roxy sniggered and said cheekily, 'Inside a broom-cupboard near the library.' 'Surely you didn't shut her up...' began Rose, worried. Roxy giggled. ' Uh, no Rosie. Well, not that I wouldn't want to do it. She's just having a – a _chat_ with Cecil Davies inside it- you know, the Ravenclaw Quidditch Capatin.' Rose smiled slightly and then-

' The library!' she cried springing to her feet. 'What's the matter?' gaped Roxy. 'I-I completely forgot _all a_ bout it...t-the _homework..._ oh Merlin...I gotta go now!' stuttered Rose with fright. 'Surely it can wait Rose, you've just got back...' began Roxy. 'Of course not.' said Rose, as she briskly rushed upstairs to her dormitory to get her quills and parchment.

And so, Rose Weasley, after being knocked out by a Bludger, was found, not resting in her bed, but walking fast towards her favourite homework-spot in the Hogwarts library. The trouble was, someone was already sitting there.

' _You_!' she hissed like an angry snake, as a head with gorgeous white-blonde hair looked up lazily towards her. 'This is a library, Weasley. Keep your voice down.' said Scorpius Malfoy, quite coolly. 'But this is _my_ study-spot!' protested Rose. 'Really? Well _I_ don't see "A short-tempered redhead who keeps biting everyone's head off whenever offered the chance" written anywhere, because that's what you should be known as, right?' retorted Malfoy.

Rose glared at him with the intensity of a basilisk for a few seconds, and then curtly took a seat on the opposite side of the table in question. She took out the library's copy of _Magical Mediterranean Herbs and Fungi,_ and resumed her already one- foot- long Herbology essay on 'Most Dangerous Mediterranean Poisonous Plants' , scribbling so ferociously that she keep splattering her nose with ink.

Malfoy's presence was not helping at all. For one thing, he kept turning the pages of his copy of _Hogwarts, A History_ annoyingly loudly. For another, he kept running his long, pale fingers through his windswept hair repeatedly, which was all the more irritating as well as distracting. The nineteenth time he did so, Rose couldn't take it anymore. She clenched her fists with suppressed rage and whispered through gritted teeth, 'Will you _please_ stop doing that? It's kind of annoying. And trust me, it doesn't make you look better.'

She expected him to scowl at her, or give a sarcastic reply, or cast her an uncharacteristically ugly look. What she didn't expect him to do was look at her with genuine amusement, and put his fist to his moth to stifle the laughter escaping it. Interpreting this as a gesture of poking fun at her, Rose said, 'I'm not _joking_ , Malfoy.'

To her great displeasure, he continued shaking with silent laughter. Rose couldn't resist it. She slammed the book shut, rolled up her parchment, swung her fiery hair behind her and got up, glaring at him. She stuffed all of this in her bag and turned her back on Malfoy, when he suddenly said, 'Wait!'

'What?' asked Rose, folding her arms and trying to put up a Malfoy-esque indifferent expression.

He got up, once more taking her aback with his incredibly tall build, picking up his book as he did so ,a small smile twisting on his blood-red lips. 'You indirectly asked me why I was having those fits of laughter, I think?' he drawled. ' Yeah.' said Rose. 'Well, if you must know- you look incredibly sweet when you send taunts like that.'drawled Malfoy. Rose's heart leaped with joy, and she just managed to suppress the excitement and solemnly reply, ' Thanks.' She paused, half-expecting, half-hoping that he'd keep the conversation going. Then she suddenly blurted out, 'How's Quidditch going?'

'Fine.'

'No offence, but Slytherin has beaten this Gryffindor team just once in about 3 years, so your chances are going to be pretty slim.' said Rose, holding her head high. Malfoy smirked. 'Yeah, I'm sure the Gryffindor team will be pretty good without your father on it.' 'And what's that supposed to mean?' asked Rose sharply. 'Well , you know,' went on Malfoy icily, 'My father told me he let in eighteen goals at once.' 'At least _he_ didn't have to bribe Uncle Harry to become Keeper. Unlike _your_ father, I think.' said Rose, shrugging. 'Well, I guess discussing our families' Quidditch skills will only raise hostilities.'said Malfoy, rather quickly. Rose nodded curtly.

Lost in conversation, both of them suddenly realized that they had unconsciously reached the entrance of the library. Malfoy smiled shrewdly at her and said placidly, 'All the best for the match. And be careful with the Bludgers.' Rose gave him an indignant sort of look, pursed her full lips and said, 'Yeah, and if I'm knocked out, do me the favour of _not_ rescuing me.'

Yet again, he smiled. But there was something different this time. This smile made his grey eyes look somewhat less hostile, and there was a subtle pinkish tinge to his pale cheeks. He took a step towards her, not once dropping his gaze from her warm blue eyes. They were now just a few inches apart. But Rose didn't look away, didn't blush furiously (though her face was covered with sweat) and didn't take a step backwards. She just continued to stare right into his deep, ensnaring eyes.

'See you around, Rose.' he said softly, and Rose shrugged. Both of them then turned their backs on each other and walked away to their destinations; Rose, with a certain spring that her steps had previously lacked.

 **A/N: I know that there has been a massive plot hole in here: one minute Scorp and Rose were looking daggers at each other, insulting families etc. , and the next moment, they're suddenly a lot more civil. I'm sorry for that...but this scene just came to me and I couldn't help it at all. Reviews, good or bad, are for my literature's development, and I respect them. Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4:Chocolate

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise or any of the characters. Warner Bros. and J K Rowling does. I do not claim owning it; this is just a piece of my imagination.**

 **I know I said last time that chapter 3 would be the last fourth-year chapter, but reflecting back on my words, I think that was not the right decision. It doesn't feel right at all. Please forgive my inconsistency.**

 **Just as an author's note, this chapter is a Scorpius POV, which I feel is extremely important.**

Out-Of-Bounds (A Scorpius/Rose Fanfiction)

Chapter-4: Chocolate

Albus Severus Potter was the ideal friend in many ways-he could cheer you up when you were upset; he could stand up to people twice his size to defend you and even stop talking to his favourite cousin if she offended you. But he could also act like a complete idiot quite often. _Like now_ , thought Scorpius as he sat up on his four-poster bed inside the fourth-year Slytherin boys' dormitory, rolling his eyes.

It was 6 in the morning and their three dorm-mates, Larry Zabini, Adrian Nott and Lucifer Montague, were fast asleep. Albus was sitting with an extremely Luna Scamanader-esque dreamy expression on his face, which, Scorpius thought, was slightly unnerving. Scorpius cleared his throat significantly.

'I thought you said something, Al?'

Albus looked at him, distracted. 'I can't stop thinking about her, Scorp.' he said. Scorpius avoided rolling his eyes with difficulty. 'For _heaven's_ sake Al, just ask her out if she's that important to you!' he said, with a tinge of irritation. Albus gazed at him with an almost pitiful expression shook his head, and gave a tragic sigh. Then he said, 'But she is Alice Longbottom. _Longbottom_ , Scorp. _Professor_ Longbottom's daughter.'

'Gosh Al, isn't her elder sister Augusta going out with James? _H_ e's your brother, and I don't see Professor Longbottom bullying him for going out with his daughter. _And_ , Professor Longbottom is the _coolest_ teacher Hogwarts has ever seen. He's really not your Uncle Ron. Plus, your father and he have been the best of friends since The Battle Of Hogwarts!' said Scorpius with an air of impatience.

'But _still_ , Scorp. Even if her parents don't mind, she's out-of-my-league.'said Al, dismissively. 'She's just _so_ beautiful. And, and me- ' (he grabbed a mirror from the bedside table and examined his reflection with disgust)- ' I-I'm so _ugly.'_

'Umm.. Al...are you sure you haven't swallowed any Amortentia by mistake?' asked Scorpius with concern.

'What's that again?'

'Professor Mulier mentioned it in class...'

'Do you honestly think that I have no better work than listening to that old bat Mulier?'

Scorpius heaved a great sigh and said, 'Amortentia is the most powerful love potion in the world. And the way you are behaving makes me wonder whether you swallowed some of it by accident...'

'Of course not Scorp. Anyway, why would she make a love potion? She can have _any_ boy in this school. Have you seen her hair? It's so short and cute...so dark...' Albus plunged into a long-winded description of Alice Longbottom's 'beauty' , while Scorpius rolled over in his bed, rolling his eyes. _If after fourteen years of being friends with her Al can't make a move,_ he thought _, then I don't know when he can. After all they are both friends!_

It wasn't that Scorpius had any particular sympathy for Albus. Well, 4-5 days ago, you could have said that he felt sorry for his best mate's anguish. But _now,_ after having listened to three nights' worth of endless descriptions and sickening poems, all the sympathy had been replaced by irritation. Sheer irritation. If he could just get Alice Longbottom Jr. to go out with Al, he could at least have some peace at nighttime. As if he didn't have enough on his plate already.

As Slytherin's first match against Gryffindor was fast approaching, his Captain Maurice Flint was insisting on practice sessions five times a week. Scorpius had to practice extra hard, because he knew that if he didn't catch that nasty Golden Snitch, the whole school would start speculating how his _rich_ father had bought him his way into the team. And the fact that he was a  Malfoy didn't help either.

The teachers were now piling them with homework that could equal O.W.L standards. They were now working on Summoning Charms, harder Transfiguration of vertebrates and Shield Charms. Not that _he_ was slacking off a bit. In spite of Flint's reckless Quidditch sessions, he would find time to complete all of his homework on time, master _Accio_ on a first attempt and remain top of his year...At least _one_ of the two top students. _Confound Rose Weasley._

She just got on his nerves. No simpler explanation than that. _None indeed_. With a haughty toss of her flaming red curls, her eyelashes fluttering with innocence and her hand constantly in the air (pretty much like his own), trying to stay cool and cold and indifferent was a notoriously difficult job. Mangy,freckled nuisance. And a very ugly one indeed.

 _Okay,_ thought Scorpius , inwardly slapping himself, _maybe not that ugly. And the way she blushes is rather cute. But still, a Weasley!_ He just couldn't decide whether she was that bad, for each time he firmly told himself that she was, well, _Weasley,_ his own internal arguments seemed feebler and feebler to himself.

The day was pretty much routine. Albus and he had Double Herbology with the Hufflepuffs, Double Ancient Runes with just their fellow Slytherins and then, lunch. Lunch, utterly spoiled by Albus nervously glancing towards Alice Longbottom at the Gryffindor table and continuously muttering under his breath. Feeling bored, Scorpius looked over towards the House Points Scale. Slytherin now had 50 more points to its name; it was at par with Gryffindor. These 50 points were hard-earned ones he had earned during Herbology and Ancient Runes. The prospect of edging a step closer towards the House Cup made Albus' muttering bearable to some extent.

At 6 in the evening, after an exhaustingly long Arithmancy lesson(not to mention the struggle of not being able to answer anything just because he was a _second_ too late compared to Ros- no- _Weasley_ in raising his hand), Scorpius was sluggishly walking in an empty corridoor. As there was no Quidditch practice that evening, he thought that further perfecting his Summoning Charm in an empty classroom was a good idea. He chose the First-Years' Transfiguration classroom. Placing his bag on one end of the classroom, he made them zoom all over the place saying ' _Accio Bag!'_.

Quite suddenly he felt something claw-like clasp his shoulder. He recognized it at once as his family's eagle owl Aquila. She gave his gingers an affectionate nibble, dropped a letter in his lap and flew away once more.

Scorpius knew at once who the letter was from, from the thin, slanting handwriting on the parchment. It was from his mother, Astoria Malfoy. He eagerly opened it, and this is what it read:

 _Dear Scorpius,_

 _We have some bad news. Your Grandfather Lucius, passed away a few moments ago. He had been ill for quite some time, but he forbade your Father, Grandmother or me from informing you, fearing that your academics would be affected. Your Grandmother has also said that there is no need for you to attend the funeral; she says your Grandfather would have never wanted his only Grandson to miss school for an 'old man's sake'. Please do try to stay composed._

 _Lots of love,_

 _Mother_

Which followed what would've been his Mother's signature, but which had been blotted entirely by a single, large tear.

His hands felt numb. In fact, his whole body felt so. Grandpa, dead? Surely this was a really pathetic joke. Only it wasn't. His mother's words were real. The teardrop that had blotted the ink on this small piece of parchment was Grandfather was dead.

It seemed just yesterday when he had been lulled to sleep by Grandpa, had played gleefully with his sleek, long, white-blonde hair, or proudly told him how his Shrinking Potions had been the best in the whole class, or...the memories seemed to create a virtual flood in his momentarily stunned brain.

And then, as if they had become too heavy for his mere mind to hold, they ran down his ghostly pale cheeks from his red and puffy grey eyes as tears, resting for a while on his blood-red lips, and then resuming their journey. His world seemed to be crumbling apart as he buried his face in his trembling hands, barely muffling the heart-felt howl escaping his mouth, when-

The door creaked open. He was not alone anymore. Barely able to move, he did not lift up his face; he didn't want to show these tears to anyone, even Albus. Then, the footsteps came closer, and the intruder now stood an inch away from the wall against which he had been leaning with his legs folded.

'Go away!' he croaked, in voice choked in tears.

But he was not obeyed. If anything, the intruder only edged still closer. The footsteps were light and almost soundless. It was not Albus, he was sure of it. The footsteps sounded more like a girl's than a boy's. 'If it's another stupid fangirl , go away before I hex you!' cried Scorpius hoarsely, still not looking up.

The girl settled herself just beside him. Wiping away his tears, Scorpius cast a side-glance at her and butterflies took flight inside him. Flaming red curls, freckles and warm blue eyes.

It was Rose.

Putting up a much more 'manly' front, Scorpius said, 'Having a good laugh with your cousins , Weasley? Your family must be celebrating; after all, they've wanted this to happen for years, right?' 'Wanted what to happen, Malfoy?' asked Rose. 'Why, the death of Lucius Malfoy, of course!' cried Scorpius , harshly.

When he looked up to see her reaction, she clapped her hands to her mouth in horror, her eyes wide with shock. He tore his eyes away from her and held back tears. Then, came Rose's voice, which was neither sharp nor shocked; it was gentle and comforting. 'Wasn't he your Grandfather?'it asked.

'Y-y-yes..' whispered Scorpius .'W-Was he- you know- old?' she asked, hesitantly.

'Well,' said Scorpius ,trembling, 'he was 87 I think...and most wizards live till 112.' 'Was he sick or something?' she asked tenderly. 'Yes...and nobody let me know... _he_ didn't want me to miss school because of an o-o-old m-man...'

'Well,' said Rose, even more gently, 'At least he's not in pain anymore...he's in peace, Scorpius.'

Then she put her arms around his shoulders and gave them a comforting squeeze. 'It's alright, Scorpius...Here, have some chocolate,' she said, Summoning a bar of Muggle chocolate with a flick of her wand. Scorpius took it and an immediate warmth spread through his chest, making him feel a lot more light-headed than before. But maybe, Rose didn't consider a mere bar of chocolate enough to counter the agony he was in. For the next moment, she had leant even closer to him (Scorpius become oddly conscious of the smell of fresh bread coming from her) brushing her warm and soft lips against his cold, sweaty forehead.

Perhaps his present grief had been too much for his mind to filter anymore shock, even that of _Rose_ _Weasley_ _kissing_ _him_ , that he abandoned all pretence and broke down completely. Letting his head loose on her shoulder, he let those tears come down once more, his eyes tightly shut, her comforting grasp never letting go of him; her playful curls tickling his cheeks and her hot breath blowing on his white-blonde hair like winds on a stormy ocean...

And even in this state of shock and excitement, as he slowly made his way back to his common room through the dungeons half an hour later, still clutching the precious bar of Muggle chocolate in his hands, he could not help but feel that her proximity worked greater wonders than the ever-effective chocolate.

 **A/N: This chapter was inspired from real life.** _ **My life**_ **, in fact. But the mere memory makes me so emotional that I had better not speak of it. I hope you enjoyed this and pleaaaase review!**

 **PS: The next chapter won't come out for at least two weeks. So please be patient and don't de-alert this story! :)**


	5. Chapter 5: The Halloween Ball

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise or any of the HP characters. Anybody who thinks otherwise is kidding himself/herself.**

 **A/N: I know that I said that the next update would only come out after 2 weeks or so... but good news!** **I downloaded the** **FanFiction app and now I can post chapters even through my mobile phone!**

 **I'm reverting back to Rose's POV in this chapter. Maybe I'll write the two protagonists' POV in alternate chapters.That will be cool.** **Hope you enjoy!**

Out-Of-Bounds(A Scorpius/Rose FanFiction)

Chapter 5: The Halloween Ball

For the fifty-seventh time that day, Rose Weasley uncharacteristically rolled her warm blue eyes, making an impatient noise, and tore her eyes back towards her Ancient Runes essay. Her cousins Roxanne and Dominique exchanged exasperated looks and hurriedly settled themselves on Roxy's four-poster bed. Dominique cleared her throat significantly, causing Rose to scowl deeply.'What is it _now_ , Dom?' she asked with as much politeness she could muster.

Dominique gave her a dazzling Veela-induced look and brightly said, 'So as we were telling you, Rose, you need to choose a nice dress-'

'- and some nice bracelets-' added Roxy.

'- and we'll get you Sleakeazy's Hair Potion-'

'- and do your make-up. '

Both of them then continued gazing at their book-ish cousin brightly. Unable to stand under so much of 'brightness', Rose pursed her lips and said flatly, ' I'm telling you both for the last time-I'm not going to the Ball.'

'Of course you are!' shrieked Roxy.

'And why wouldn't you? ' piped in Dominique, outraged.

'Well,' said Rose jerking her head defiantly. 'There are _two_ major reasons. No. 1- I need to give my Arithmancy _and_ Transfiguration some finishing touches. No. 2- No-one's asked me to the Ball.'

'The homework can _wait_ , Rosie.' said Dominique.

'And _I'm_ sure that by today evening someone will have asked you. ' said Roxy, firmly.

'And what if nobody does?' asked Rose, cocking an eyebrow.

'Then we will leave you at peace with your homework.' echoed her cousins.

'Fine, then. You can clear off now. ' said Rose, turning back to her work.

Once both of them were out of the room, Rose laid down her quill and heaved a long sigh. Dominique and Roxy were the only girl cousins she was attached to; but they could get really annoying about things like _this._ In short, things concerning _boys._

The announcement of the Halloween Ball had caused a stir among the Hogwarts students of and above the fourth year, particularly the girls. In the last few days, not one of Rose's dorm-mates or girl acquaintances wanted to talk about anything other than the Ball. And of course, shrieks of glee when some boy asked some girl to the Ball had become as common as the rustling of leaves. The Ball was to be held on the day after tomorrow, and almost everyone had partners, and plans about brilliant dresses. Everyone except Rose.

However much Rose tried to deal with this as nothing significant, and however much she told Dom and Roxy that she didn't care about the Ball, the truth remained that she kept wondering all day long why nobody had even _hinted_ asking her to the Ball. Even as friends. And she couldn't think of anyone to ask out herself.

 _Alright_ , thought Rose, her stomach squirming, _maybe that is a lie._ _A blatant lie._

Truth be told, she _did_ have someone she would like to go with, and she hated admitting this to herself. Even debating about this was a bit hopeless. Given his piercingly good looks, his stormy grey eyes, his gorgeous hair and blood-red lips, Scorpius Malfoy was sure to have got a date by now. Sure, he had been a tiny bit warmer towards her presence since the day she had found him alone in the empty Transfiguration classroom. And by warmer, she only meant that he didn't scoff at her anymore at any given opportunity. Not that he actually paid her _any_ attention whatsoever.

Had she gone _mental_? Was she just considering going to the ball with a _Malfoy_? Maybe Fred had started slipping something funny in her pumpkin juice every evening. She _had_ to be mentally disoriented to even _think_ like that. What would her family, and above all, her _father_ say?

And then there was the obvious fact that she would only embarrass herself by daring to ask Scorpius out, because she would _obviously_ get rejected. Even if by any chance, he _hadn't_ got a date, why would would he go out with her- bushy-haired, freckled, bookish Rose _Weasley._

Slightly pink in the face, she gathered her things and marched off towards the library, just like her mother did when in doubt.

It was 7:45 PM when Rose looked up from her homework in the library and realized that if she didn't get back to the Common Room soon enough, then she would get detention by the hot-headed caretaker Agnes Patch.

As she hurried towards the door of the enormous library, her pointed auill accidentally pierced her cloth-bag and it split open. 'Urgh!!!!' she said and fumbled for her wand from within her robes.

'Here, let me help you. ' drawled a familar voice. She looked up amidst her disheveled curls to see Scorpius approching her slowly. 'No, I think I can take care of myself! ' she snapped. She _Accio-_ ed her books, _Reparo_ -ed her bag and then tossed her hair proudly.

Literally looking up at Scorpius (she had to, because he was seemed to have grown even taller) she asked suspiciously, 'And may I ask _what_ you were doing in here? ' He raised his eyebrows and said, 'You're not the only one who wants to be top of her year.' 'Alright. ' said Rose skeptically, determined not be intimidated by his height.

They began to walk, a little too slowly, towards the door, as though trying to delay their farewell. Then suddenly, Scorpius said, 'Thank you Rose.' 'Mm? ' asked Rose, distracted. 'Thanks for being kind to me that day.'

'Oh _that._ Yeah, you're welcome. ' said Rose, shrugging. Then suddenly, she blurted out, 'No one's asked me to the Ball.' To her annoyance, Scorpius said, ' I knew no one would. ' 'Which is supposed to mean that I'm the ugliest girl ever? 'she asked, acidly. 'No, no. ' said Scorpius calmly. 'It's just that I know for a fact that your brothers James Potter and Hugo Weasley have threatened to hex anyone who dares ask you or Lily Potter to the Ball. '

' _What?!'_ cried Rose, flabbergasted. Scorpius shrugged. 'Screw all of them. ' muttered Rose, angrily. Then, she asked Scorpius in a voice drowned in misery-

'Do you have a partner? '

'Suddenly, the weather felt very hot.

'Nope. 'said Scorpius coolly.

She didn't why, but the moment he said this, she felt like she'd just won the House Cup. Trying to maintain her monotone, she exclaimed-

'You're joking! '

'Why would I? '

'But _I've_ seen plenty of girls fawning over you! '

'I don't think the girl _I_ want to ask outcan even stand my presence. '

Rose paused to look at him. He was determinedly avoiding her gaze. She narrowed her eyes and asked softly, 'And who is she? '

Scorpius didn't look at her but stared straight ahead. Sweat was trickling down his forehead and there was a hint of magenta-ish colour to his cheekbones. He opened his mouth to speak, and Rose felt like her heart would burst with excitement and he said-

'If we don't get back to our respective Common Room right now, Patch'll put us into detention. ' Before she could say anything, he turned on his heel and hurried away.

'Just leave me _alone,_ Roxy. And you too, Dom. And yes, if you can, please put a Stinging Hex on James and Hugo for me. '

And then, before either of her beautifully dresses cousins could comfort her anymore, she tightly drew the curtains of her four-poster bed and cuddled in her sheets.

About half an hour later, which had seemed like centuries to her, Rose came out of her dormitories with her Transfiguration essay into the deserted Gryffindor Common Room. It looked like all those too young for the Ball were now asleep in bed.

She climbed out of the portrait hole with her bag and made her way towards the library, deep in thought.

 _Everyone is at the ball. Even Albus asked out Alice. Everyone except me._ _All because of James and Hugo._ Prats.

She had barely reaced the library when she swore loudly. A sign board on its door read 'Closed'. _Great. Even the library is closed. Some day I'm having._ She leaned onto the great door and abruptly burst into tears. She didn't even know _why_ she was crying in the first place. All she knew that it made her feel better and worse at the same time. _Silly girl,_ she told herself.

'Hey, don't cry... 'came a voice. And with the voice came the intoxicating smell of mangoes...

Cursing her luck, Rose snapped through tears, without looking up, 'Go away! ' 'I won't. ' said Scorpius, casually.

Now, misery turned into rage and Rose cried, ' _Why_ do you _always_ have to turn up where and when I _don't_ want you to? Why aren't you at the Ball with your-' her voice broke-'-your pretty lass? ' She flung her hair with the usual haughtiness and glared at him.

'Because I knew you'd want to come to the library. You always do when you're upset. ' said Scorpius gravely.

'I'M NOT UPSET!! IT'S JUST A STUPID BALL. _YOU_ CLEAR OFF NOW TO JOIN YOUR _DARLING_! ' bawled Rose, once more breaking into tears.

To her horror, he pulled her towards him with the slightest of force and whispered with a somehow softer expression, 'I didn't ask anyone to the Ball, Rose. '

'You didn't?'repeated Rose childishly. 'Why?'

He smirked and leant closer.'Didn't I say that the girl I wanted to invite apparently hates me? '

'Oh' said Rose, her spirits sinking.

'Rose... you can be so _naive_ sometimes... Don't you get who the girl is?' said Scorpius, leaning ever so closer.

'No. ' she said defiantly.

'It's you, idiot! ' rumbled Scorpius, bright pink patches on his pale, moonlit cheeks.

Rose blinked. 'Er... ' she stammered, going the same shade as her fiery hair. To hide her embarrassment, she entwined a curl from her hair and fidgeted with it as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.

Scorpius, on the other hand smiled at her mysteriously, his grey eyes continuing to enchant her. 'Dance with me. ' he announced, and before Rose could protest, he gently pulled her even closer and slowly whirled her around rhe same spot.

On and on they danced, both in their school robes; he, lost in the brightness of her warm blue eyes and she, swimming in the depths of his steely grey eyes, until they pausedfor breath, tired and flushed.

Silence.

'Rose? ' asked Scorpius, softly caressing her unruly hair.

'Mmm?' mumbled Rose, closing her eyes. His breath was steady and hot on her flushed cheeks. He was just a centimeter apart from her. And then he stopped.

'I think we should go. '

'What? ' stuttered Rose, opening her eyes.

'The students will be arriving any time now... I don't think we should be seen... '

'Yes... of course... '

And then both of them awkwardly let go of each other and without another word, sprinted towards their Common Rooms.

 **Uhhh I have done the worst job ever writing this. But I don't know what else I could have done...** **And you all can make me realize that this should never happen again by reviewing! So please do that!!**


	6. Chapter 6: The Hogsmeade Weekend

**Disclaimer :I DO NOT own the Harry Potter series or any of this stuff, although anyone who might have taken refuge at the bottom of a pool might think so.**

 **I've now started to believe strongly** **that my chapters have become _pathetic_. The story's getting boring I think. I'm sorrrrrryy for all of this, but please be considerate. I'll only get better with time. **

Out-Of-Bounds( A Scorpius/Rose FanFiction )

Chapter 6: The Hogsmeade Weekend

Scorpius had only been in so foul a mood once before, and that is, when he had discovered on his first trip on the Hogwarts Express that he wasn't exactly 'popular'. His present frustration, however, was even worse. And the reason for all of this was stoically avoiding his gaze and looking straight into her porridge at the Gryffindor Table.

Rose Weasley had been avoiding him like he was the plague all through the week since the Halloween Ball. And he wouldn't have been so annoyed if only he knew what was wrong. Seriously, if after so much had happened in the last one week, and she was going to do absolutely nothing about it, he'd really have to disagree.

Beside him Albus was talking excitedly, for the hundred and sixteenth time( or so it felt), about how he had recieved a cute little kiss from Alice Longbottom on his left cheek during the Halloween Ball , and how they both had agreed to meet each other at The Three Broomsticks later that evening during the Hogsmeade weekend.

This last part annoyed Scorpius, if possible, even more. Al was the only person with whom he was able to actually enjoy his Hogsmeade weekends. Going with some stupid fangirl or gorilla-like, thick-headed, Slytherin cronies wasn't exactly enjoyable. And now Al was off snogging Alice Longbottom . Screw his luck.

So now Scorpius was set on a gloomy Hogsmeade weekend without Albus, and hopeless speculations as to why girls were so complicated. With one last burning look at the Gryffindor Table, he glumly turned back to Albus, who had definitely not noticed that Scorpius hadn't been paying him the slightest of attentions.

It's funny how when one desperately wants some solitary me-time, the day seems extraordinarily busy. And this was exactly how Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy felt for the rest of the day, thanks to two hours of reckless Quidditch practice and four of scribbling away nasty essays on Goblin Rebellions of the seventeenth century.

At six in the evening, Hogwarts students of the third year and above talked excitedly of visiting Honeydukes, Zonko's joke shop and the Shrieking Shack. Everyone except Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy.

'Scorp, mate, I really don't think that Alice would actually mind having you around. She'd be thrilled... so you can come over... 'said Albus, with a rather troubled look at his sulky best friend.

Scorpius gave him an unconvincing smile, patted him on the back and said, 'Don't be silly... I don't wanna ruin your date. I'm taking some homework with me. Maybe I'll just order some Butterbeer and carry on with the Arithmancy work.'

Half an hour later, Scorpius was seated comfortably in the welcoming warmth of The Three Broomsticks with various rolls of parchment, scratching away fiercely. Albus had said 'Goodbye' to him an departed towards Madame Pudifoot's Tea Shop with Alice. Sipping some of Madame Rosmerta's Butterbeer lavishly, Scorpius decided to relax his eyes a bit and looked up, sighing. And what he saw almost made him drop his Butterbeer tankard.

Rose was seated two tables away from him, thoughtfully sucking the end of her quill and adding some more to a foot-long length of parchment. Scorpius clenched his fists and continued staring at her darkly,gritting his teeth.

After five minutes or so, she put her quill down, rolled up the parchment and started sipping from her goblet. She twirled her disobedient locks in her fingers and then stared straight ahead. Her eyes met Scorpius' and she jerked violently, blushing to the roots of her red hair and immediately dropping her gaze. Suddenly , she stuffed her things in her bag, got up and scurried out of the bar.

Scorpius couldn't take it anymore. He gathered his own things, slung his bag on his shoulder and hurried on after her out of the bar.

He found her standing nervously a few metres from the bar door. She glanced at him quickly and then turned away, gazing into nothingness.

He approached her cautiously and, keeping a foot-long distance, said, 'Hello.' She didn't look at him, but said, rather awkwardly, 'Er-Hi. '

The ensuing silence of 10 minutes was then broken by Rose, who said in a small voice, 'The weather's pretty good, right? ' 'Mmm.'

Scorpius ran a hand through his white-blonde hair and asked, but very quietly, 'Why have you been avoiding me? '

Rose didn't reply at once. Instead, she gingerly turned to face him and said in a small voice, 'Because whatever happened should not have.' Scorpius gaped at her. 'I don't understand. ' he said finally.

Rose frowned and said, 'I don't, either. But it feels wrong. ' 'But why?'blurted Scorpius. Then, without warning, he leaned in forwards and softly brushed his lips against her cheek. She pushed him away in aversion and yelled, 'How _dare_ you Malfoy? Stay _away_ from me!! '

Scorpius shaked with anger and yelled, 'Ofcourse... it's your weasel father isn't it? He's told you to stay away from _Malfoys_ , right? Well, in that case, let me tell you that _he_ is the most annying, short-tempered ginger -'

'As if _your_ father is the noblest person the world has seen? Draco Malfoy and his precious Death Eater friends. Lovers of torture, muggle-hunting-'

And then, many things happened at once. Both of them together drew their wands and cried, ' _Protego! '_ At the same time, Albus appeared on the spot, his hands entwined with Alice's and in confusion cried, 'Scorp? Rosie? What's happening? ' The combined forces of the two Shield Charms knocked Rose and Scorpius off their feet and they landed on the ground, panting and glaring at each other.

Rose was the first to stagger to her feet. She tossed her bushy hair with her characteristic haughtiness and, still glaring at Scorpius, said hotly, 'Oh _nothing_ , Al. I'm only rather upset that you didn't choose your friends with care. ' 'Oh yeah? Al, if _only_ you weren't related to losers like the Weasels! ' said Scorpius in his coldest ever tone.

Albus and Alices's jaws dropped in shock as Rose scooped her bag from the ground and stormed away. Then, still glowering after her, Scorpius grabbed his own bag and marched away with his head held equally arrogantly high.

 **A/N: Alright. So this was an awful chapter. Even then, I'd love you to _review_. Pleeeeaaaseee! **


	7. Chapter 7:The Perks Of Being Prefect

**Disclaimer:I don't own the HP series or characters. Tired of saying that already.**

 **I'm now going straight into the Fifth Year.**

 **Just a recap: Rose and Scorpius danced with each other during the Halloween Ball. Rose avoided Scorp after that. Scorp confronted her, got a little too close and then they both started fighting. They're presently at loggerheads.**

 **PS: This is a Rose POV.**

Out-Of-Bounds( A Scorpius/Rose FanFiction )

Chapter 7:The Perks Of Being Prefect

'That's like my Rosie! ' exclaimed Ron Weasley, playfully ruffling up Rose's bushy hair. Hermione stooped down and kissed her daughter lovingly, smiling proudly at the Prefect's Badge gleaming on Rose's shirt front. Rose grinned widely at both of them, especially at her brother Hugo, who piped up, ' _Another_ Prefect. I bet Uncle George'll be committing suicide next. He couldn't think straight for at least a week after Molly became one.'

Ron and Rose snorted loudly, and even Hermione smiled slightly. Rose suddenly paused, jumped to her feet and ran towards the fireplace, saying, 'I bet Al has been made too! ' She grasped some Floo Powder from a nearby flowerpot, stepped onto the fireplace and spoke clearly, ' Number 7, Gerald Street.'

Green flames emerged around her and seconds later she staggered out of the fireplace of the Potter household. Covered in ash, she looked around the dining room, her blue eyes searching frantically for any sign of Albus. But the dining room was deserted.

'Aunt Ginny?! Uncle Harry! Albus? Albus! It's me, Rose! ' There was a sound of swift footsteps, and a minute later, the door opened.

Through the door entered Aunt Ginny, with the same flaming red hair as Rose, which fell to her waist, and her eyes the same shade of brown as Grandma Molly's. After her came Albus, his jet-black hair as untidy as ever, and his brilliant green eyes ive with joy.

'Aunt Ginny! ' cried Rose, launching herself at her only aunt, and receiving a gentle kiss on her forehead. 'Merlin, Rose! How come you're -'she began, before her honey brown eyes fell on the Prefect's Badge pinned to her niece's shirt. Her eyes widened with joy and she thumped Rose's back proudly, saying, 'I'm _so_ proud, darling! If it's not Albus, then at least it's you! '

'Well _I'm_ perfectly happy for not being made Prefect, 'said Albus. 'It'd take the fun out of life! ' Ginny shook her head ruefully and Rose giggled, saying, 'Sounds like something Uncle George would say. ' Albus grinned with delight, as Ginny said, 'I'll be right back! ' and closed the door behind her.

'Where's James, Lily and Uncle Harry? ' asked Rose suddenly. 'They've gone to get Lily a broomstick. She'll be trying out for Seeker this year.' chanted Albus.

'Oooh-that'll be great! ' exclaimed Rose. 'And that reminds me- Hugo will be trying out for Chaser!' 'If they'll both succeed, ' said Albus, thoughtfully. 'You'll have _two_ more of the family on the team! Blimey, the other Gryffindors will think it's nepotism! '

'They _won't_ , when we'll win the Cup _again_ this year. ' said Rose, proudly. 'We _flattened_ the other Houses in _every_ game last year. ' She smiled dreamily, the memory of Gryffindor's victory last year lifting her spirits. It would've been a good way of getting back at _Malfoy_ , had he not-

'Mind, Scorp still caught the Snitch. You should've seen Smith's face when he made that fabulous dive. ' said Albus, enthusiastically. 'Yeah, 'grumbled Rose. 'Great dive. '

Perhaps Albus sensed the bitterness in her tone, because he changed the topic quickly and said, 'I forgot to tell you- Scorp's been made Prefect! He sent me an owl straightaway the moment he got the badge. '

Had Rose not managed to get a grip onherself on the last moment, she'd have actually slid off her chair. 'Scorp-I mean-Malfoy's Prefect? _Malfoy?_ Of _all_ the people? ' she repeated in disbelief.

This was, probably not the right thing to say before a fierce friend like Albus Severus Potter. His brilliant mgreen eyes darkened and he said angrily, 'He's model student, like _you_ Rose. He's never got detention in his five years at Hogwarts. I don't see why he should _not_ have been made Prefect. '

Rose backtracked at once. 'I -er.. 'she stammered. But he held up his hand firmly to silence her. 'Just because he's a Slytherin and his father was _once_ a Death Eater _and_ he's a pureblood doesn't mean he's pure evil. ' He paused for breath and then continued, 'He's my best friend, Rose.'

'I thought _I_ was your best friend, Albus! ' cried Rose, indignantly. 'You _both_ are my best friends. Can't you look past a name for change Rose? ' said Albus, quietly.

'Oh no I can't! 'cried Rose fiercely. 'His father called my mother a 'Mudblood'! _My_ mother was _tortured_ by his Great-Aunt. Uncle Fred _died_ , Albus, _died_! _His_ father brought Greyback into Hogwarts and Uncle Bill's got scars because of that! And you're telling me to tolerate his presence? Oh no, I _won't_! '

'Is it his fault, Rose? Did _he_ do all of that? ' asked Albus, solemnly.

'Well- yes-I mean-no- ' faltered Rose, going furiously red. 'You're biased against him. You're prejudiced because of his family. I get it. 'said Albus.

'So what if I am?! ' she said angrily, standing up with her hands on her hips. Albus stood up to, his eyes gleaming with suppressed fury. He gritted his teeth and said, 'So _what?_ _So what, Rose?_ So it hurts me a little too much to see my two best friends scowling and glaring and what not whenever they spot each other. Can't you feel _anything_ but hatred for him? '

Rose opened her mouth to speak and closed it again, going red. Then she mumbled , 'Whatever, Al. ' and tossed her red hair angrily, turned on her heel and stepped onto the fireplace again. Green flames emerged around her again, taking her away from the one person she thought would be her best friend forever.

'Make me proud, Rose! '

'And look after Hugo! '

'Give Malfoy's offspring hell from me!'

' _Ron! '_

Sorry, Hermione! '

'Bye Mum, bye Dad! '

'Bye darling! '

'Best of luck! '

The train sped up to its utmost speed, and Rose cast a final glance at her parents' waving hands, before retreating into the inner corridor of the train. She briefly checked on Hugo and Lily, who were talking animatedly in a deserted compartment , grinned at Fred, James, Roxy and Dom, who also had a compartment to themselves and hurried on towards the Prefect's compartment, her eyes desperately searching for just one person: Albus.

She hadn't seem him all summer since their heated argument in the Potters' dining room. Hermione and Ginny had offered to talk to him reasonably, but she had refused point-blank. Things were very, very bad without them intervening.

At first she'd decided to give him the cold shoulder as well, but she'd failed miserably. She missed him so much she could've given up her racing broom to have him talk to her. Her other cousins' company was just not the same as Albus'. She felt at ease with him, and he was overall too much of a charming person to stay mad at for too long. And all of this mess _just_ for Scorpius _Malfoy._ Just like Ron had said, she'd _have_ to give him hell.

She only wished she could feel just _one_ thing for him:hatred. But there was more to what she felt for him. Way more. Hadn't he said that he had wanted to ask _her_ to the Ball? Hadn't he been so nice and decent and so... much more to her? Had it all been a show, a joke- to have a good old chuckle at her cost? To lure her into false elation? But still... he had been so warm and nice to her...

Lost in her thoughts she suddenly realized that she'd reached the Prefects' compartment. Her first impression was that it was deserted. Felling elated at discovering a place to herself, she swiftly slid the door to enter it, stepping casually.

It happened suddenly. She tripped on something long and firm and fell headlong on the floor with a sharp cry. 'Ouch... 'she moaned, softly massaging her head. 'Should've walked more carefully, right Weasley?'drawled a familiar cold voice.

Cursing her unreliable luck yet again, Rose got up with as much dignity she could muster and turned to face the platinum-blonde head of Scorpius Malfoy, giving her best death-glare. He rolled his eyes indifferently as she pursed her lips, folded her hands and settled on the seat opposite to him, her heart hammering extraordinarily fast.

Wondering where the other Prefects and Head Boy and Girl were, she asked rather stiffly, 'Are we a little eary? ' He didn't look at her but said, with an air of arrogance, 'Think so.'

Suddenly the compartment door slid open, and a rather breathless Albus entered and said, 'Scorp, you really have to see-' His eues fell on his favourite cousin, who shifted uncomfortably.

'Er-Hi Rose. ' he said rigidly.

'Er... 'stammered Rose.

He stoically turned away from her to face Scorpius and continued as if she was not present there, said, 'Scorp, you _have_ to see this. Zabini's got this _awesome_ new trick-' 'Really? Let's see it then. 'drawled Scorpius and glided out of the room, leaving Rose alone with Albus.

Rose began, rather awkwardly, 'Albus... ' 'It's okay. ' said Albus, surprisingly calmly. 'What? 'asked Rose, blankly. 'Let's forget all that stuff we told each other. We're best friends, after all. ' He smiled and Rose hugged him, tears streaming down her cheeks. 'I-I've m-missed you s-s-so much Al... '

'I know. I missed you too Rosie... '

'Please Ben, _please._ '

'I can't help you Rose. Mc.Gonagall will kill me if I mess up Prefect pairings which _she_ herself has arranged. ' said the Head Boy, Ben Mc. Laggen.

Rose closed her eyes in despair, and then walked away, dejected.

During the Prefects' meeting on the Hogwarts Express, The Head Boy and Girl and Deputy Headmaster Professor Longbottom had distributed the slips pairing the Prefects with each other for Patrol Duty. And as you might guess, the neat handwriting of Professor Mc. Gonagall on hers had read:

 _Scorpius Malfoy_

 _ **A/N**_ :This chapter went through a lot of modifications. I just hope it is up to mark.

 **I hope I'll be able to post sufficient chapters in the following week, because after I get back to school, posting will be impossible.**

 **Liked it? Despised it? Lemme know! :)**


	8. Chapter 8: Prefect Patrol

**Disclaimer:All of this stuff is JKR's. How many times do I have to say that already?**

 **I hope you enjoy this one.**

 **This is a Rose POV.**

Out-Of-Bounds (A Scorpius /Rose FanFiction )

Chapter 8: Prefect Patrol

 _'Bloody hell_ , Rose. You're telling me you won't be there? '

'Language, Hugo! '

'I don't care about language, Rose! You promised that you'd be there for Chaser Try-Outs and now you're wriggling out of it! '

'I'm not wriggling out of anything Hugo! I've been given Patrol Duty by Professor Mc. Gonagall on Saturday evening. I'm Prefect --'

' _Bloody hell_ \--'

'ENOUGH! Five points from Gryffindor for disturbing the quiet of the Common Room! And it'll be ten next if you don't shut up, plus a letter to Mum! '

Rose's eyes were flashing at her redheaded younger brother Hugo, who glared at her for a few more moments and then settled down beside Lily, turning his back adamantly on Rose. Lily seemed at a loss what to do, and said, rather gingerly, 'Erm... Exploding Snap, Hugo? ' Hugo shook his head and then stormed away towards the Boy's Dormitories. James followed him out of the Common Room.

The first week back at Hogwarts (two days, to be exact) had been exhausting for Rose, but they had passed fairly fast. It was the first Friday evening of the term. Roxy and Dom were nowhere to be seen. Rose suspected that it had something to do with Lysander Scamander and Cecil Davies, Ravenclaw boys in their Fifth and Sixth Year respectively.

Apart from them, most of the family was sitting comfortably in the Common Room. Fred and James had been making an annoying bunch of giggling girls laugh. Lily and Hugo had been chatting animatedly about their Boggart-Tackling lesson. Rose had been reading Quidditch Through The Ages. All had been peaceful until James had reminded the Common Room that as Amanda Smith and Daisy Finnigan had left school, the Chaser and Seeker Try-Outs would be held the next day. And now Hugo was throwing tantrums because Rose was forced to be absent at the Try-Outs to support him.

 _It's really not fair_ , Rose thought. _It's not like I want to miss out on that_. _It's my duty, after all._ Missing out on her first Prefect Patrol Round would mess up her chances of becoming Head Girl. The mere thought of that was terrible. Not that she actually wanted to be stuck up with that swollen-head git Malfoy, when the rest of the Quidditch Team was getting a new Chaser and Seeker.

'You shouldn't have taken away those points, Rosie. I think that angered ickle Hugo even more.' said Fred, breaking away from the circle of girls which surrounded him.

'Not you too! ' protested Rose indignantly.

'Just saying. 'shrugged Fred, and he too trotted off towards the Boys' Dormitories.

Rose flopped down on the couch beside Lily in irritation. Lily smiled sympathetically and gave her a comforting squeeze. 'Don't worry, Rose. He'll be okay.'

'Hope so. 'said Rose, frowning slightly.

Rose was pacing the Third Floor Corridor impatiently, twirling her wand in her fingers, her head fuming. 'Wow, 'she muttered to herself. 'Some _nerve_ that git has got. First Patrol Duty and he doesn't even _bother_ to turn up. ' She checked her watch again. _7:45._ _If that dratted boy isn't going to turn up after 5 minutes_ , she thought, _I'm going to patrol the corridor by myself. And I'll make sure to get this known to Ben._

But Scorpius didn't turn up _at_ all. Smirking smugly at the prospect of not having to tolerate his presence _and_ having got an excuse to complain about him, Rose began to patrol the corridor by herself. Students were allowed out of bed till 10, but Prefects were posted in corridors anyway to make sure that no rules were broken. Rose kept humming a random tune by herself, occasionally running a hand through her disobedient hair, and looking into empty classrooms.

Suddenly, she stopped dead, like a dog who had sniffed a rat. She cocked her ears carefully and recognized the sound that had disturbed this part of the vast corridor. _A girl's shrill giggle._ She shook her head ruefully, debating with herself whether she should have a look. _But then again,_ she thought, _giggling is not a violation of school rules._ Finally, curiosity got better of her and she decided to have a tiny glimpse of the owner of that voice.

Soundlessly edging towards the classroom from which the giggle had come, she gingerly peered inside it. And what she saw shocked her _so_ much that she might have yelped sharply had she not clapped her hands to her mouth in time.

Scorpius Malfoy, his muscly arms wrapped tightly around a blonde Slytherin girl Rose knew to be Samantha Lestrange, both kissing each other so fiercely that they might have as well been glued by some adhesive.

For ten seconds Rose stood there, as if she'd just been Stunned. A small part of her told her to not embarrass herself anymore, and to quietly slither away from the spot. But the larger part clearly felt otherwise. She didn't know why, but her heart had sunk a little too much, and that it had nothing to do with the feud with Hugo. She didn't know why, but she felt so irrationally close to tears, to disappointed tears, and a sudden urge to hurt this Slytherin boy before had gripped her almost savagely. All she managed to do was clench her fists fiercely , looking very much like Hermione Granger had, when she had set golden birds on Ron Weasley. And then _he_ noticed her.

Scorpius instantly broke the kiss, pushing Samantha away, shock etched on his pale face. But now that he'd seen her, Rose no longer wanted to stay there. So she made a run for it.

'Rose! 'she heard him scream after her.

But why was she running at all? Why should _she_ be so embarrassed. _He_ should be ashamed. _He_ had skipped his Prefect Duties to-- well never mind _what_ he was _doing_ \--; so technically _she_ should be _facing_ him and biting his head off. And so she did.

Coming to an abrupt halt, she turned around to see him sprinting towards her. When he was sufficiently close, she poked him in the chest and growled, ' _You_ have got some nerver. Skipping Prefect Duties to snog that idiot's brains off! '

'Look--'

'No _you_ look. _You wait_! And I'm going to make sure the Head Boy _and_ Girl _and_ Professor Longbottom and--'

'Oh _shut up_!' said Scorpius angrily. 'Just because you're the only girl in the whole of Hogwarts who has not got a snog does not mean--'

'What makes you think that I haven't snogged anyone? ' demanded Rose angrily, though she knew that he would at once see through the lie.

He laughed mockingly. 'What makes me think so? It's so obvious! Who'd want to snog you? Freckled, bookish nuisance who cannot stand the fact that she's the _only_ Fifth-Year who hasn't had a snog _all_ her--'

SLAP!

Rose's hands were still hurting from the force with which she had slapped Scorpius. Scorpius looked very much like his father had when Hermione Granger had smacked him squarely in the face. And before he could say anything more than, 'Rose, I--', Rose had whirled around, her blue eyes considerably moist, sprinting away towards her Common Room.

She re-arranged her expression at once near the Potrait Hole, for she had just spotted Professor Longbottom, Head of Gryffindor House, talking to a group of five in front of the Fat Lady's Potrait. On closer inspection, she found the group to be the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, and Lily and Hugo.

Lily, and even Hugo, beamed brightly at her and said in chorus, 'We got selected for the team, Rosie! ' Hugo jumped towards her hugged her tightly, and Rose tried her best to grin genuinely at him, ruffling up his red hair. She also patted Lily on the head.

Professor Longbottom smiled warmly at them, and said, 'Well, I hope this new team will amount to another Gryffindor victory this year! I'm quite used to seeing the Cup in my office. Now off you go. '

The team then said 'Goodnight' to their Head of House, and climed in through the Portrait Hole; Rose pretending to the best of her ability to listen to Hugo's excited buzz, when her mind was so clearly somewhere else.

 **A/N: Ah, this chapter annoyed me a lot. Personally, I don't get why I make these to darlings clash so much! It was a gut feeling, so...**

 **Also, I don't much get the Prefect and Curfew system of Hogwarts, so I twisted it according to my convenience. Please forgive those plot holes.**

 **If I were Rose, your reviews would even make me happy enough to get over the fact that I just slapped THE Scorpius Malfoy. Just saying. :)))**


	9. Chapter 9:Nighttime Strolls

**Disclaimer : I have no rights over the Harry Potter Franchise. All the characters are JKR's. Except some which I invented, of course.**

 **I'm apologizing again for the typing errors. Please try to overlook them.**

 **This is a Scorpius POV.**

Out-Of-Bounds (A Scorpius/Rose FanFiction)

Chapter 9: Nighttime Strolls

On Sunday, the bulk of Hogwarts students lazily made their way towards the Great Hall for breakfast, late after oversleeping. Autumn was setting in with its usual elegance, and the pleasant weather was doing nothing whatsoever to dampen their efforts of procrastination.

Scorpius Malfoy, his white-blonde hair messier than usual, sat down grumpily next to Albus, his right cheek slightly redder than the rest of his pale face. Albus' brilliant green eyes narrowed with curiosity and he asked, rather chirpily, 'Why the long face? '

'Nothing. 'mumbled Scorpius, as he stuffed porridge in his mouth. His cold grey eyes travelled across the Gryffindor Table, settled for a second on a certain redhead, his hand unconsciously rubbing his right cheek. He pursed his lips, shook himself and reverted his attention to Albus' curious gaze. Albus broke into his usual animated speech at once.

'Guess what, Scorp? Alice has agreed to support me at Keeper Try-Outs! I made her promise last evening when we met in the Astronomy Tower! Isn't she wonderful? I don't think that _any_ girl in the whole of Hogwarts can be as sweet as her. Merlin, she's so... '

'Mmm. ' mumbled Scorpius, trying to sound genuinely interested.

'And that reminds me -- how was your Prefect Patrol with Rose?'asked Albus, buttering his toast. Scorpius' jaw tightened and he said, 'Brilliant. '

Perhaps Albus failed to recognize the sarcasm in his voice, because he beamed and said cheerfully, 'Cool! At least now you both won't bite each other's heads off! '

Before Scorpius could get any further than, 'That's _not_ what I--', Albus shut him up by saying excitedly in a low voice, 'Hey, I completely forgot about it! When I was returning from the Astronomy Tower last night, I accidentally found out a secret passageway behind Kentipan the Strange's potrait on the Fourth Floor. I checked the Marauders' Map and it's not on that _either._ Reckon we should have a poke around after everyone's gone to bed? '

There was a sound like a hesitant cough behind them. Both of them wheeled round to face Rose Weasley, her warm blue eyes narrowed with sternness. She was clutching a long piece of parchment in her hands. For a moment, they rested on Scorpius; then she turned slightly pink and continued frowning at Albus.

'Good morning, Rose! ' greeted Albus, a lite too heartily.

She frowned even more deeply and said, 'You're planning on breaking school rules. ' It was not a question, but a statement.

'No--obviously not--why would we? Of course not--'stuttered Albus, nudging Scorpius painfully in the ribs, a signal to join into denial, but Scorpius didn't speak. His jaw was still tight, and the frustration of not being able to make faces at Rose was getting relieved by clenching his fists hard.

'Al, don't you _dare_ break school rules! ' growled Rose, glaring at Albus.

'And don't _you_ dare boss me around! ' said Albus.

'Of course I have to boss you around. Aunt Gin wrote to me today saying that you hadn't written home _at_ all, and she wants me to let her know if anything's wrong and keep a watch on you. And _obviously_ , I'm not going to let her down by letting you break school rules and get into detention.' said Rose, her hands on her hips.

Albus glared back at her and grumbled something which sounded like, 'As if James wasn't enough. '

Rose paused and then asked, 'So you're not going, right? ' 'Like I said, it's _none_ of my business what I do or not. Now go away! 'snapped Albus, turning back to his cereal. Rose chewed her lip impatiently, and then tossed her head and went away, without a single glance at Scorpius.

'Albus, I honestly don't think we should be going any further. '

'Don't be silly, Scorp! We're under the _Invisibility Cloak._ Ho's anyone supposed to catch us? '

'But I'm Prefect--'

'Honestly, Scorp. Be brave! '

'Well, I can't. I'm _not_ a Gryffindor, most importantly. '

'Hang on, we're almost there... '

It was almost midnight, and the moon shone brilliantly over the castle of Hogwarts, whose nightly silence was only broken by Albus and Scorpius' fast whispering on the corridor of the Fourth floor.

'Just by the way, Al, how'd James give you the Cloak? 'whispered Scorpius.

'Exchanged it for the Map. He was suspicious, but agreed anyway. 'said Albus, in a distracted voice.

Suddenly they stopped. Footsteps. Quick footsteps. They became completely still, and listened hard, not daring to stir. If it was the ruddy caretaker Agnes Patch and her cat Nekly, they'd have to wait till their way was clear.

Then, the figure who appeared appeared before them numbed them with jaw-dropping shock.

It was Rose, sprinting towards the exact spot where the two boys stood invisible. She was clutching a very old, ragged piece of parchment in her hands, which Scorpius immediately recognized as the Marauders' Map. She paused, glanced at the the parchment, drew out her wand and tapped it once, saying, 'Mischief managed. '

'Albus, I know you're here, so no point pretending. You show up on the Map even if you're invisible. 'she called out cautiously. Scorpius could see Albus rolling his eyes and swearing in a low voice, before slowly taking off the Cloak from above Scorpius and himself.

Rose, still ignoring Scorpius completely, heaved a great sigh of relief and stepped on the part of the Cloak sweeping the ground , the glow of the moon lighting up her soft features. Even in this state of bewilderment as to the lengths to which this girl could go to withhold rules, Scorpius couldn't help but notice that the red of her dressing gown went rather well with her freckles and fiery curls... With an effort, he shook himself and concentrated on the two cousins' endless bickering. Not to mention _, loud._

'... for your own good--'

'Rose, I don't nee--'

'Oh _shut up_ and listen! ' hissed Scorpius angrily, cocking his ears hard. ' _Quick_ , under the Cloak! ' he urged. Albus pulled the Cloak swiftly, tripping Rose in the course of his action (she had been standing on it). She fell down on the floor with a loud thump, and the footsteps that had alerted Scorpius now grew louder.

Just as she had staggered back to her feet as fast as she could, the stooping and bad-tempered figure of Agnes Patch, along with her cat Nekly, appeared at the end of the corridor, undiaguised greed at the prospect of finding students out of bed etched on her lined, scowling face.

' _Three_ students out of bed, Nekly dear... ah... what a treat! 'she exclaimed gleefully. She stopped just before the three terrified faces, scanning them from head to toe. Her pale eyes rested briefly on the Prefect's Badge pined to Scorpius and Rose's robes, before saying, 'Come on darlings... a sweet little reward for your nightly ventures awaits you in your respective Head of Houses' Offices. '

 **A/N: Sorry for the long wait, sweeties, but I had reasons.**

 **First of all, I had a flood of ideas and _no_ idea where and how to put them in.**

 **Second and the major one:The depression of my fun-time in Jammu getting finished killed my will to do anything but grumble like Moaning Myrtle.**

 **Also, typing errors are a specialty of mine, so...**

 **Reviews are desperately wanted!!!!!**


	10. The Forbidden Forest

Disclaimer: The ownership of the Harry Potter series lies solely with JKR.

So I just need to clarify a few things about the ages of a few supporting characters:

Lorcan and Lysander Scamander and Roxanne are in the same year as Rose.

-Augusta Longbottom, Cecil Davies, Dominique, James and Fred are in the year above Rose.

-Hugo and Lily are two years below Rose.

Also, I want to thank you all very, very much for the lovely reviews and constructive criticism. I'll try my best in taking your thoughts into consideration and not letting you down. You guys seriously rock!

The last chapter, I agree, was an all-time short one. The major reason was such a silly one that even thinking about it makes me *blush* *turn beetroot red*. I hope that it won't happen again.

This is a Rose POV.

So, yeah, that's it and I hope you enjoy!

Out-Of-Bounds( A Scorpius/Rose FanFiction)

Chapter 10: The Forbidden Forest

Four. Years. Rose Weasley had spent four years at Hogwarts without breaking any school rules, without getting into detention even once, thus setting a fine example for generations of Weasleys to come. And now, all of the effort she had put in taking after her mother had been splashed with Stinksap just because she had tried to keep her cousin _and_ a Prefect from breaking rules. What would Professor Longbottom think of her? Would her chances of becoming Head Girl be sabotaged? And above all, what would her _mother_ say?

'This is all your fault, Albus Severus!' she muttered angrily as Albus, Scorpius and she followed Patch down the shifting staircases. 'Oh no it isn't!' whispered Albus, equally angrily. 'It is your fault. I didn't tell you to stop me from breaking rules. You've got not only yourself, but also me and Scorp into trouble!'

'I was just trying to look out for you!' mumbled Rose furiously. ' Well, _don't_!' muttered Albus.

'Oh shut _up_ both of you!' whispered Scorpius in an annoyed voice. Rose didn't know why, but his speaking annoyed her even more. 'Oh _you_ ,' she said in a dangerous voice.' Aren't you a Prefect? At least _you_ could've stopped Alb--'

'I have _no_ energy to tolerate your heap of dragon dung.' whispered Scorpius, cutting across her in a cold voice.' Just keep quiet.' Rose flushed deeply and a deadly silence ensued, disturbed only by the gleeful caretaker's stagger, and the three students' nervous footsteps.

When they reached the First Floor, Patch knocked on Professor Longbottom's office door, a horrible grin on her despicable face, and a minute later the bronze door opened to reveal the round and mature face of Neville Longbottom, positively surprised. His eyes travelled from Patch to Rose to Scorpius to Albus, and he frowned slightly. 'Ms.Patch!' he exclaimed. 'How may I help you?'

'Professor, Neckly and I have just found these three--' ( she pointed a stubby finger at the three guilty faces)'--lurking past curfew in the Fourth Floor Corridor.'

Professor Longbottom looked scandalised for a few seconds. Rose could feel his "explain yourself" gaze burning through her head, and stared shamefully at her shoes. At long last, he cleared his throat and said, 'It would be of great help, Ms. Patch, if you would kindly lead Mr.Potter and Mr.Malfoy to Professor Mulier's office, as she is Head of Slytherin House.'

Patch nodded and went away, Scorpius and Albus following her.

'Come in, Rose.' said Professor Longbottom gravely. Rose stepped inside the warm and comfortable office, not daring to meet his eyes, scared of the dismay she might see in them. Professor Longbottom sank into a comfy armchair by the side of plant Rose recognized as Mimbulus Mimbletonia. 'Explain yourself.' he said grimly.

Rose could have given up her Prefect's Badge and her racing broom to be able to evaporate on the spot. Or just Disapparate. But as she could do neither, she started telling her Head of House about how she had heard Albus at Breakfast, and how all she wanted to do was stop him from breaking rules.

A long, dreadful silence, and then --

'I am very disappointed in you, Rose.' said Professor Longbottom, sighing heavily. He had not shouted; in fact, his tone was just as it always was-- cool and composed. But the heavy disappointment in them was even worse than angry, loud words. Rose couldn't speak.

'Even if you intended to stop Albus from breaking rules, you had no right whatsoever to break them yourself. That's a lesson I learnt in my First Year from my Head of House.' he continued. Rose nodded timidly. Of coushe knew very well how back in her parents' First Year, Neville had tried to stop her mother and Uncle Harry from breaking rules, ending up in detention himself.

'I'm afraid you will have to bear the consequences.' he said coolly. ' Thirty points will be taken from Gryffindor. You will also get detention with Albus and Scorpius. Am I understood?' Rose nodded again. She had got what she deserved.

' Right.' he said briskly.' Now you can get back to your dormitory. Good night, Rose.' 'Good night Professor.' said Rose in a small voice, walking out of the office with her head hung low.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

' Hey, don't worry...Aunt Hermione won't send you a Howler.' said Fred, patting Rose on her shoulder. She shrugged miserably and buried her forehead in her hands again.

'You're overreacting.' said Roxy, flopping down on a nearby couch. 'Roxy's right, Rosie.' added Dominique, patting her blonde locks dramatically. Somewhere nearby, a group of Fourth Year boys was goggling at her. 'So would you if had never ever got detention all your school life.' snapped Rose.

Just then there was a diversion in the form of James, who walked in through the portrait hole, looking disgruntled. He flung a small piece of parchment at Rose. 'From Professor Longbottom.'

Rose opened the roll of parchment with trembling hands. It read as follows:

Your detention will take place this evening at 10 O' Clock. Please meet Ms.Patch in the Entrance Hall.

Professor Longbottom.

Sighing gloomily, she looked up from the parchment to see Fred frowning at James. 'What's up with you?' he asked, but James only scowled and looked away.

'Maybe he's arguing with Augusta!' Hugo whispered in Lily's ear, who nodded in agreement. 'I heard that!' barked James, his scowl growning darker. Rose shook her head ruefully, and resumed her Defence Against the Dark Arts essay, although the progress she made in the hours till 10 was questionable.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rose checked her watch. Five minutes to ten. A moment later, Albus entered the Great Hall a little breathlessly, followed closely by Scorpius, haughty and proud, and the sneering figure of Patch, Nekly circling her heels.

'All three in here? Very good.' sneered Patch. 'Now follow me.' Rose, along with Albus and Scorpius, stared straight ahead and followed the caretaker out of the Great Hall. Rose recognized the way at once as the path to Hagrid's hut, and sure enough, after some time, the cosy cabin, blocked mostly by the massive figure of Professor Rubeus Hagrid , was visible. When the four of them were near enough to him, he nodded solemnly at them and said, 'Thank yeh, Patch. I'll take them from here.' Patch grinned nastily and prowled away, Neckly meowing after her.

Rose couldn't bring herself to lock eyes with Hagrid; she felt ashamed of the fact that even Hagrid, who considered her one of his best Care of Magical Creatures student of her year, now knew about her rule-breaking from the previous night. Out of the corner of her blue eyes, she could see Albus going through a similar internal struggle, as he too, like her, was looking determinedly anywhere but at Hagrid. To her surprise, Scorpius cleared his throat coolly and said, ' So what do we have to do, Professor Hagrid?'

 _How can he act so coolly after getting into detention?_ Rose wondered wildly. , _Ah well, he's a Malfoy, so shamelessness must be an old family gene._

'Ah yes,' said Hagrid. ' Listen carefully, all three of yeh. We got some escaped Keterels I bin savin' fer the Fourth Years' next lesson. All yeh three gotta do is catch as many as yeh can, or the ruddy creatures will reck the whole place.'

'Where will we start looking for them, Hagrid?' asked Rose timidly. ' Edge o' the Forbidden Forest. Two of yeh can take Fang, and the other can stay with me.' Before Rose could automatically move towards Albus, the latter took a massive step towards the half-giant, declaring in a panicky voice, 'I'm going with Hagrid.' _Damn it,_ thought Rose, _I keep forgetting he's not in Gryffindor._

'Alrigh' then, that leaves Rose and Scorpius with Fang.' said Hagrid. 'Now if there is any problem, I want yeh both to send red sparks in the air. Go on. And no' too deep inter the forest! ' Scorpius nodded, and Rose noticed that that his jaw was scarily tight. Fang the boarhound fell into step beside Rose and the three trotted off towards the edge of the Forbidden Forest. 'Lumos.' they both whispered almost together, caught each other's eye and looked away quickly.

The trio reached the edge of the thick, dark Forbidden Forest, the eerie rustle of its leaves and spooky sounds of its many mysterious magical creatures sending chills down Rose's spine. She gripped her wand even more tightly and nervously glanced at the grey-eyed blonde beside her. The fact that not a word had been exchanged between them since Hagrid's instructions made the atmosphere even scarier.

The expression on Scorpius' face was no less unnerving. His jaw was so tight that Rose was afraid his teeth might break at any moment. Was he still mad at her for smacking him? As soon as she had thought this, Rose inwardly slapped himself. _He had it coming_ , she told herself firmly. _He got what he deserved and I was absolutely right._

Just then, there was a significant disturbance in the undergrowth close to the spot where Scorpius, Fang and she were standing. ' _Revelio_.' whispered Rose , pointing her wand directly at the undergrowth. Nothing happened.

'Well that was dramatic.' jeered Scorpius sarcastically.

Ignoring him completely, Rose cautiously edged towards the undergrowth and whistled loudly. There was a sharp intake of breath from Scorpius as an undersized fox-like creature timidly emerged from the bushes. It had a black coat, shiny like that of a Golden Retriever, dog-like warm eyes and a white tail and paws. Fang barked loudly.

'How'd you know that there was a Keterel in there?' asked Scorpius quietly. 'Tut, tut, weren't you paying attention in Care of Magical Creatures?' asked Rose, raising her eyebrows coldly. Scorpius clenched his fists.

Rose laughed shrilly. 'When there was a rustle in the bushes and my Revelio charm did not work,' she said in a lofty, un-Rose-ish way, 'I knew at once that there was a Keterel in there, as Keterels have powers that can make them undetectable even under the influence of the Revelio charm. They are attracted by the woman's whistle, as I just showed you. '

Scorpius mumbled something which sounded like, 'I was ill during that lesson. ' Rose tossed her red hair in her characteristic manner, and resumed walking around the place, constantly whistling.

Keterels emerged from all sides, shyly sniffing at Fang and immediately withdrawing, forming a sort of tight circle of Keterels. Out of the corner of her eye, Rose could see Scorpius looking distinctly displeased, and that, including the fact that she had at least beat him at something, brought her immense satisfaction.

Suddenly, he stopped. 'Hagrid told us to not go too deep the Forest. ' he said flatly. 'Besides, we've got enough Keterels for one lesson. ' Rose folded her arms and said, rather snobbishly, ' Oh _of course!_ I keep forgetting that you're in the most cowardly, wretched House of Hogwarts! '

'Not a _word_ against the great House of Salazar Slytherin! ' growled Scorpius, edging dangerously close. Trying her best to not get intimidated by his strong, athletic build, Rose whispered, 'The truth's always bitter, Malfoy. You go back with the Keterels if you want to. I won--'

'Oh I forgot about you holier-than-thou Gryffindors--' He stopped dead, his face growing pale-- a feat quite remarkable judging by the Malfoys' pale face standards.

Then, many things happened at once. Scorpius pushed aside Rose forcefully and cried, ' _Impedimita!_ ' At the same time something huge and white and furry was repelled backwards, and Rose, through the numbness of her shocked mind saw the humongous wolf get back to its feet, baring its teeth ferociously. Through the darkness of the green thickets of the Forest, more pairs of wolfish yellow eyes were nearing the trio. With a sharp yelp of fear, Fang ran away.

Still on her knees, trembling uncontrollably, Rose pointed her wand at the litter of Keterels, and whispered, before turning to face the five wolves, ' _Protego Totalum! '_

She clutched her wand tightly, pointing it straight into the wolves' faces, who eewere all growlinin low tones. Then, without warning, all of them sprang forwards onto the two terrified students.

The air was filled with red sparks and cries of ' _Impedimita! '_ and _'Stupefy!_ '. Rose managed to Stun one of the wolves, but not before another of them had sunk its canines into her arms. Barely able to move, she had to summon all of ber strength to hold up her wand somehow and whisper, ' _'Impedimita! '_

Beside her, Scorpius was being confronted by three wolves at once. She hurried to his side and froze one of them using ' _Petrificus totalus'_ , while Scorpius Stunned another. The one wolf that was left whimpered, and then backed away to its abode.

Scorpius was breathing heavily, lying spread-eagled on the undergowth. The Shield Charm Rose had used on the Keterels had now weakened and they were now able to move on the other side of the invisible shield.

Rose sighed and bent over Scorpius, observing him carefully for the first time that night. Similar to her, he had canine marks on his left arm, and his nose was bleeding profusely. He tried to stop it thickly with his hands, then gave up.

'Here, I can fix that--' said Rose, inhaling deeply, '-- Scorpius. ' 'Scorpius, eh? ' he asked softly, his lips twiating in a sort of grimace. Rose hoped vainly that the darkness would hide her red cheeks, and whispered, pointing her wand at his nose, ' _Episkey. '_ Scorpius rubbed his nose lightly, and said, 'Thanks, er--Rose. '

He paused, raising his eyebrows at her wounded arm, and asked, 'You okay? ' Rose shrugged nonchalantly and said, ' I suppose Madame Pomfrey can fix it. '

'You were brilliant. ' he whispered, getting up and edging closer to her. Rose couldn't help the grin that spread on her flushed face. 'You too. '

And he grinned _back._

There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and taking on a pack of fierce wolves is one of them.

 ** _A/N_ : Sorry for the last line, but I wanted to portray a sort throwbof similarity between the two generations ... I hope you like it.**

 **I made Keterels up. :)))**

 **Reviews make the heat wave of Delhi tolerable... Just saying. :))))**


	11. Chapter 11: A New Friend

Disclaimer: The HP series and characters belong to JKR. I have no right on any of this.

Thanks to all my impending schoolwork, I now know what can be worse than the Dementor's Kiss. Ah, to be in Jammu and as free as a lark

Wipes a big fat tear*

Blows nose*

For all those who think that because this update has come after _so_ much of time, it will be the best chapter ever:I'm sad to say that you're wrong. Personally, I don't understand why I'm even caring to post this chapter, when it's the worst till date, but I'll just grit my teeth and do it.

This is a Scorpius' POV.

Out-Of-Bounds (A Scorpius /Rose FanFiction)

Chapter 11: A New Friend

'I had to be _mental_ to have thought I could do this. ' declared Albus in a hollow sort of voice, his usually cheerful face unnaturally pale, staring straight into his porridge, which he had not touched since he had settled down at the Slytherin Table twenty minutes ago. 'Well _I_ don't disagree that you're mental, but I _do_ know that it's _not_ because of thinking you could try out for Keeper. ' said Scorpius, matter-of-factly. When Albus didn't answer, he said in tone which was encouraging and impatient at the same time, 'Come _on_ , Al! Your _whole_ family is involved in Quidditch! Your father was a celebrated Seeker, your Mum was a professional, your brother is a Keeper, and even your _sister_ got selected last week! Why would _you_ be any different? '

'My whole family is in _Gryffindor_ , and I'm in _Slytherin_. Doesn't that explain why I _am_ very different from them? ' demanded Albus. 'We're talking about _skills_ , Al, not _character_.' Scorpius said firmly. 'It was your character that made the Sorting Hat put you in Slytherin. Not your _skills_.' He paused, frantically searching for some sign of relaxation on Albus' face, but there was none. He sighed and said encouragingly, 'Eat _something_ , at least. You'll be needing a lot of strength. '

Albus half-heartedly spooned some porridge and stuffed it in his mouth. 'Cheer up, Al. Alice will be there! ' said Scorpius, in vain hope of lifting his best friend's spirits. But this was probably not the right thing to say, because Albus turned a nauseating shade of green and groaned, 'Even _Alice_ will get to see what a loser I am. Why, oh _why_ did I tell her to support me at Try-Outs?! '

Abandoning his vain efforts for some time, Scorpius shook his head hopelessly and let his stormy eyes wander lazily across the Great Hall. And then, with an amazing somersault of his stomach, and a sudden quickening of his heartbeat, they fell on warm, blue ones at the Gryffindor Table. To his amazement, they were staring straight at him.

Rose mouthed something which clearly was, 'What's wrong with Albus? ' Fighting hard to keep a straight face, his mind going unsteady, Scorpius mouthed back, 'Keeper Try-Outs. ' Rose's eyes widened with understanding, and she motioned for him to call Albus.

Scorpius nudged Albus and said, 'Rose. ', cocking his head in her direction. When Albus looked at her, she put on a dazzling smile, and gave him a massive thumbs-up. Albus smiled weakly and returned back to fidgeting with his spoon, mumbling, 'This is by far the _worst_ idea I've ever had.'

Before Scorpius could contradict him, they were interrupted by Neil Warrington, the burly Slytherin Quidditch Captain. He looked directly at Scorpius, and said gruffly, 'Come on Scorpius, I want the team on the Pitch in five minutes before we start Try-Outs. ' With one last encouraging smile at Albus, Scorpius got up from his seat and walked off towards the entrance.

His smile faded, however, when he tried stealing one last glance at the Gryffindor Table, and disappointment welled up inside him because the seat he had hopefully looked at was vacant.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

'You were _brilliant_ , Albus!' came a jubilant voice from behind. Scorpius and Albus wheeled round to see Rose standing behind them. Her freckled face was shining with exultation, and her oceany blue eyes twinkled as she ruffled up her cousin's jet black hair. Albus grinned.

'Thanks, Rosie!' he said, cheerfully. 'I couldn't believe that I missed just _one_ goal! ' 'Well _I_ knew you had nothing to worry about, Al. ' said Scorpius, trying hard to not let the fact that Rose's braided hair suited her a lot distract him.

Just then, there was a loud and cheerful 'ALBUS! ', and the crowd created by the mass of rejected Keepers dispersed slightly to make way for a round-faced, short-haired girl, a brilliant smile lighting up her features. Alice Longbottom Jr. came to a halt in front of the trio, planting a brief kiss on Albus' cheek. Albus went a little pink and immediately plunged into long-winded descriptions of his spectacular saves, while Alice listened with avid interest.

There was a brief nudge in Scorpius' waist, and a second later, Rose had brought her lips close to his ear, murmuring, 'Come on... let's leave them alone... '

Did she say ' _come on'_? As in, walking away _alone_ with _Scorpius_? Well, of course, it didn't take a genius to guess that Rose and he had been extremely courteous to each other since the wolf-confrontation, but the 'friendship' had only been extended to times when Albus was present. _Don't freak out_ , Scorpius told himself, _It's just short, completely platonic walk._

Both of them walked side-by-side towards the Great Lake in absolute silence, and then sat down lazily under a massive oak tree's shade, gazing into the depths of the Lake. Partly from the desire to find an innocent excuse to look at Rose, and partly to break up the nerve-racking silence, Scorpius said, 'Nice weather, isn't it? '

'Mm. ' she mumbled, smiling dreamily.

Silence again. And then--

'You still seeing the Lestrange girl? ' asked Rose, unconsciously tearing apart some dry leaves. Scorpius was so taken aback by this topic that he couldn't answer at once. 'You could say something, you know. ' urged Rose, when he kept quiet.

What could he say, actually? He didn't actually know whether Samantha was _still_ his girlfriend. Not after Rose had walked up on them that evening. Sure, Samantha still clung to his arm like an irksome, sticky fly, and she didn't show any sign of understanding that he didn't want that, but in his mind(though not officially ), it was over long ago.

'I don't think so. ' he said finally. Was he imagining it, or had Rose really relaxed noticeably the moment he had said so? 'Why'd you want to know that, anyway? ' he asked curiously. Rose didn't so much as glance at him, but tucked some loose hair behind her ear and said, 'Only the fact that she's been glowering at you from across the lake for the last fifteen minutes. '

Scorpius groaned loudly and forced his eyes away from Rose. Sure enough, there was no mistaking Samantha Lestrange's long and sleek golden hair, her chiseled face scowling darkly. Sighing heavily, Scorpius stretched his arms and legs and leaned backwards onto the grass, closing his eyes.

'You should at least break up _ceremoniously_ , Scorpius.' advised Rose after some time. Scorpius opened his grey eyes and cast her an annoyed look. 'Why should I? ' he demanded, massaging his forehead.

'I was never _that_ interested in her and I hinted it _quite_ often. '

'Funny way you have of showing that.' scoffed Rose. 'What are you talking about? ' asked Scorpius, sitting up. 'You snogged her. 'she said simply, her fists clenched. 'I had just _begun_ snogging her when you walked up on us. ' he corrected her defensively. 'You didn't give me any time to realise that I didn't really like the kiss.'

And then, silence fell upon them once more, and Scorpius knew exactly why. The events succeeding that incident were a little too embarrassing for both of them to go into details of. Scorpius stole a glance at her, but Rose was scarlet in the face and looking pointedly anywhere but in his direction.

'OI!! ' came a breathless voice from behind. A moment later, Albus had taken a long stride and flopped down on the grass that separated Rose and Scorpius. Of course, there had been no other vacancy than the space between Scorpius and Rose. 'I've been looking all over the place for you! Alice said she had to owl her Mum, so here I am. '

'Took you long enough, Al. ' said Scorpius, smirking slyly. 'What had you two been doing? ' Albus half-grinned and aimed a lousy punch at him, which Scorpius ducked. Rose smiled.

'That reminds me-- why weren't my precious siblings there to support me at Try-Outs? ' Albus demanded of Rose, abandoning his unsuccessful attempts to punch Scorpius. 'Because both of them had a row and are presently in a dangerous mood. ' said Rose, wearily.

'About what? ' asked Albus, absent-mindedly. Rose took a deep breath and said, 'The thing is, James found out about Lily and Lorcan-- yeah, don't be surprised Albus, haven't you seen how close they've been whenever Luna's brought Lysander and him to your house? So anyway, James saw them holding hands, and you know he's _such_ an annoyingly protective brother. He told Lily that she's too young to hold hands with boys and that Lorcan will be in _mortal danger_ if he dares so much as _look_ at her. '

'And then there was Lily. You know she's got Aunt Ginny's temper, so why'd she stay quiet? So she threatened him that if he dares butt into ber business, then she'll write to both your parents. And then she told him that he's mad at her just because he's jealous that he's the only one of you three who is not going out with anyone presently. '

'Wait a second-- I thought Alice's sister was going out with James! ' said Albus.

'Correct.She _was_ going out with James. They broke up about a week ago over some petty issue.' said Rose. 'Blimey! No wonder James didn't look so good yesterday! '

'Anyway, the point is that I _absolutely_ agree with Lily that James has _no_ right to pose such threats. Don't you, Al? ' she added. 'Yeah. ' said Albus. 'I mean--I'd want to watch out for Lils too, but as long as it's Lorcan, I don't think anything could go wrong.

'You know, I _still_ can't believe it. ' he said, suddenly, looking from Rose to Scorpius in disbelief. 'What? ' asked Scorpius. 'You both. Friends. I mean, if I'd've known it'd take a wolf attack to make my two best friends _friends_ , I'd've dumped you in the Forest ages ag-- HEY! Isn't that Hedwig?! '

Scorpius looked up towards the infinite sky, the sunlight making him sneeze, and sure enough, the tiny speck that was Albus' snowy owl Hedwig was slowly growing larger. The graceful bird, her white wings outstretched, landed softly on Albus' left arm, dropping a letter in his lap. She blinked her amber eyes at the trio and Scorpius stroked her head gently. 'Now off you go to the Owlery! ' whispered Albus and she flew off to her destination.

'Who's it from, Al? ' asked Scorpius, stretching his arms again. Before Albus could reply, Rose exclaimed excitedly, 'It's from Teddy! Says so on the envelope! Open it Al, I haven't heard from him since ages!

'That's true, ' pouted Scorpius. 'He hasn't even been writing to _me_! '

Teddy was the son of Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks, who had lost their lives in The Battle Of Hogwarts almost 25 years ago. Scorpius and he had got along very well ever since the pair had been introduced to each other by their grandmothers, who were sisters. In fact, Scorpius had been so attached to him when he was a child, that quite often, Teddy had to postpone his Portkey and see Scorpius to bed because of the racket the latter created if the former left Malfoy Manor when he was awake. However, it had been quite some time since they had last corresponded, and

Scorpius couldn't help but feel a tinge of sadness at the very thought. _Maybe he's busy with Auror Training and Victoire_ , he reassured himself. _It's not like he's forgotten me._

'What?' inquired Rose, cutting across his thoughts. 'Mm? ' mumbled Scorpius. 'How come Teddy writes to you? ' she asked, looking at him in plain surprise. Then, perhaps she realized that she was being horribly rude, she added, in a hushed voice. 'I -- I mean --I didn't know you were friends. ' 'He's a second cousin... Our grandmothers are sisters... remember? ' he said casually. Rose frowned for a couple of minutes, then her expression cleared, and she said, 'Yeah, I get it. '

Just then, Albus managed to unfasten the seal of the envelope. He straightened the parchment bearing Teddy's handwriting and reat out aloud:

"Dear Albus,

It's been _so long_ since I've heard from you. Or James or Rose or Hugo or Fred or Roxy or Lucy or Louis. Lily and Dominique remain my _only_ correspondents at Hogwarts. Seriously, am I _that_ forgettable?It's a good thing Hedwig turned up, much to my surprise. At least _she_ misses me.

Victoire's getting edgy. She's searching for a colour that goes with red, black, golden and two different shades of brown and red hair for the bridesmaids' dresses, and the search is getting nowhere. So naturally, she keeps taking out the frustration on her groom, that is, me. I've tried making her laugh by using Metamorphmagus skills to turn my nose into a pig-snout, but it annoyed her even more and she ended by threating to not marry me if I do that at the wedding.

Also, I have _no_ idea who's going to be my best man. Gran has told me to select from among the 'junior' members of the clan, and that is no difficult a task. Victoire has forbidden me from selecting either James or Fred because she thinks they'll wreck the wedding with products from Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezs. I can't have Louis because he's Victoire's brother, Hugo because he's too young. That leaves you-- and Scorpius, and I want to have you _both_ , but there can't be two 'best men'. This whole wedding thing is freaking me out.

Auror training is far harder than imagined it to be. Add the wedding pressure, and I'll be lying in St. Mungo's soon.

Anyway, what I was actually writing to you about was that Harry, Ron and Hermione will be taking a surprise Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson on Thursday for the Fifth-Years. Harry forbade me from telling you, but I couldn't resist it. So don't go spreading it around.

How's Rose? And Scorpius? I hope they make it up at least _this_ year. I hate it when their faces go dark whenever they hear each other's name.

Lily wrote to me last night telling me about the row with James.Personally, I'm not surprised. Remember his reaction when he caught me kissing Victoire kissing at King's Cross? If he can be _that_ protective about a cousin, then his row with Lily is perfectly believable.

I hope you write to me, because Lily can get a little boring, and all Dominique wants to talk about is the wedding--and I have to listen to enough of it from her dear sister Victoire.

So, yeah, that's it, and don't forget to write back, and tell me the date of the next Hogsmeade weekend. I'll trymy best to come. I would really appreciate it if you tell the rest of the clan, and Scorpius to write to me too. Just so I know that they remember who I am.

Lots of Love,

Teddy."

Albus folded the letter neatly, and placed it inside the his robe--pocket. 'Imagine his shock when I tell him that both of you have become friends! ' he said, smirking. 'Maybe the shock will lose him his Metamorphmagus properties. ' joked Rose, almost winking at Scorpius. Scorpius felt his face go very warm and took off his cloak.

'Wonder what kind of DADA lesson our parents have planned for us. ' said Rose thoughtfully. 'Whatever it is, I'm glad Uncle Ron is coming. Aunt Hermione gets too serious and only _he_ can relax her. ' said Albus. Rose and Scorpius grinned.

'I'm hungry. Let's go down to the kitchens. ' said Albus abruptly, rubbing his tummy. 'I will _not_ allow you to break any more rules. ' drawled Rose, sternly. Albus scowled at her, turning to face Scorpius. 'Whose side are you on? ' he demanded.

Scorpius hesitated, cleared his throat and mumbled, 'I agree with Rose. ' Rose fell back laughing triumphantly and Albus scowled darkly at both of them, muttering something which sounded like, 'Prefects. ' Then he got up , saying, 'Got a Potions essay to finish. You coming, Scorp? '

Of course he did _not_ want to go. He seldom got to stay alone with Rose, and he couldn't get enough. But it was true that a pile of essays he had constantly been postponing awaited him in his dormitory, and the surge of guilt inside him overcame the desire to enjoy Rose's company.

And so he turned to Rose and said a half-hearted sort of 'Bye! ', which she returned with a sad sort of a smile. Then he scooped his cloak from the ground and marched off with Albus.

Once out of Rose's earshot, as they walked back to the castle, Albus pouted, 'Never thought you would _not_ side with me for _Rose._ You were always my partner-in-crime! ' 'I sided with Rose because she was right. ' drawled Scorpius, a little uncomfortably. Albus shrugged and mumbled, 'You've changed so much since both of you became friends. '

Maybe Albus was right.

 **A/N: *Ducks for cover* I know this chapter was lousy, and so was my writing style, but I'm going with 'something's better than nothing'.**

 **Updates will be very, very sparse because school is reopening in two days' time and I have so much to cope up with. Please don't de-alert this story meanwhile!** **One way you can make me write the next cchapter faster is by _reviewing!_** **One of the reasons why I was late in posting this one was the fact that not getting reciews killed my will to write.** **Next update at the twentieth review? Kidding! Fifteenth review? Not kidding! :)))**


	12. Chapter 12: The Serpent and The Eagle

**Disclaimer:I don't own Harry Potter, although I'd obviously like to.**

 **Apologies and explanations later, let's get on with the story!!**

 **This is a Rose POV.**

Out-Of-Bounds (A Scorpius/Rose FanFiction)

Chapter 12: The Serpent And The Eagle

It would obviously take more than a bleak and cloudy Saturday morning to dampen Hogwarts students' spirits when the first Quidditch Match of the season, Slytherin vs Ravenclaw, was about to start in half an hour.

Rose downed her mug of warm coffee in one go, as Roxy and Dominique debated whether they ought to wear Ravenclaw or Gryffindor scarfs to the match- Lysander Scamander and Cecil Davies were both on the Ravenclaw team. James and Fred were absorbed in a serious conversation regarding the outcome of the match, and Lily and Hugo were chatting animatedly beside Rose.

She looked towards the Slytherin Table, picked out Albus' jet black head and got up with sudden resolution. 'Where are you going?! ' Lily called out behind her. 'Gotta see Albus! ' replied Rose. 'Oooh! Wish him luck from us! ' echoed Lily and Hugo.

Albus was talking very seriously with Scorpius, both of them in their green and silver Quidditch robes. It indeed was a bit unusual for Rose to see the lack of cheeriness from his face. So absorbed were the duo in their conversation that they only noticed her when she came to stop in front of them and said, 'Good morning. '

'Hi.' they chorused. Rose noticed that both their bowls of porridge were only half empty. Shaking her head, she said, 'Confident, Al? ' ' 'course, 'he replied briskly, and Rose could see much of his father's Auror-like professional glint in the brilliant green eyes. 'Been training like mad, haven't I? ' 'Quiet right. 'drawled Scorpius, with a twisted smile. 'I dunno what has gotten into Warrington this year, he wasn't so bad last year. ' 'I guess losing to Gryffindor last year _again_ egged him on. ' said Rose, smirking.

The boys exchanged significant looks, and then Scorpius said, 'But not this time. ' 'Right, ' said Albus confidently. 'We're going to win this year. That's an absolute. '

'As if I'd let you, ' replied Rose, grinning lopsidedly. A group of bulky boys in robes similar to Scorpius and Albus' were now approaching them. 'Well, looks like it's time for both of you to go, 'said Rose hurriedly. 'Lily and Hugo say best of luck! ' 'Thanks! ' chorused the duo, rather nervously. The pressure seemed to have finally getting them. Rose hurried towards her cousins, who were all getting to their feet, and could vaguely make out Roxy and Dom wearing navy blue and bronze mufflers.

 _Best of luck, Scorpius._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

'Davies, Corner, Scamander, Boot, Macmillan, Leong aaand Hunt for Ravenclaw! 'boomed the voice of Felix Jordan across the Quidditch Stadium. A blur of blue and bronze robes soared the sky, and the Ravenclaw supporters broke into cheers and applause. There were loud 'Booooos! ' from the Slytherins.

'And then Warrington, Pucey, Flint, Goyle, Goyle, Potter--Ladies and gentlemen, Albus Potter, youngest son of Harry Potter, playing Keeper for the very House his father has thwarted--'

'JORDAN! ' shouted Professor Longbottom.

'Alright, Professor, 'grumbled Jordan. 'So... where was I? Yeah, Potter and Malfoy, ' (he said the last word with particular distaste, which caused an instant uproar from the Slytherins)

'Why does he have to do this in such a _bigoted_ way? 'thundered Rose, but her cousins were too busy to pay any attention to her. There was a loud round of applause from the Slytherins, as seven flyers in robes of green and silver soared through the sky and and clung to their brooms, facing their opponents. Albus looked paler than before, making his dark hair stand distinct against his skin, but his expression was nonetheless determined. For a brief moment, she looked straight into Scorpius' pools of silver eyes, then he seemed to jerk himself a little and looked away.

'Ugh--Sorry Louis--Oh come _on_ Augusta, stop trying to break away from me! ' said a familiar voice, and a moment later, Alice Longbottom, along with her sister Augusta, dropped into the empty seat beside Rose. 'Thank _God_ the match hasn't started yet... Albus would _kill_ me if I'd've missed even a _second_ of it... There he is!! ' she said.

'I hate you Alice. ' mumbled Augusta, twirling her long blonde hair, so unlike her sister's, in her fingers. 'And why, may I ask? ' snapped Alice.

'You _made_ me come here. '

'You can't miss Quidditch! It'll only make you feel better. '

'With _him_ around?' spat Augusta, not even bothering to keep her voice low. All the Weasleys' heads turned in unison towards her. Almost everyone in the near vicinity was now staring at her, except James, who was looking straight ahead, and Lorcan Scamander, who was in the middle of explaining to Lily about the working of Spectrespecs and seemed quite undisturbed. 'Fat chance. 'she continued, quite unabashed. 'You're hopeless. ' mumbled Alice.

'I've been told that by _plenty_ , Alice. '

'Fine, go away, then! '

'With pleasure! ' And with this, she shot off from the Quidditch stands. Cold silence, and then Rose cleared her throat and said, 'Oh look, the game has started! '

'--brillant pass from Davies to Corner, Mia Corner, ladies and gentlemen, what an excellent Chaser she is, and good-looking too--' 'WOULD YOU MIND TELLING US ABOUT THE GAME, JORDAN?! 'barked Professor Longbottom, though his round face was clearly bearing marks of a suppressed smile. 'Sorry, Professor! ' chuckled Felix, though he did not sound sorry at all. 'So--um--Right there, Corner passes the Quaffle to Scamander, who--ouch-- is hit by a Bludger from Goyle--is it Vincent or Steve, ugh who cares, one of them--So anyway, Scamander drops the Quaffle--'

'Oooooooh! Lysander's hurt, somebody stop the game! ' squealed Roxy, with a terrified look on her chocolate-brown, freckled face. 'Don't worry, Roxy, ickle Lysikins will be alright. 'chuckled Fred, and his sister scowled at him. 'Yeah, 'said Lily, sweeping her curtain of dark red hair behind her shoulder. 'These kind of things happen in Quidditch. '

'--taken by Adam Pucey, who, ahem, drops it too--now it's Corner in possession with the Quaffle, and _ouch_ -another Bludger from Goyle--Neil Warrington, Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch Team, takes the Quaffle, Pierre Boot, Keeper, goes in the wrong direction, and here Warrington goes--HE SCORES! '

The Slytherins sprang to their feet and cheered loudly, and the Ravenclaws fell back, dejected, into their seats. Louis and Lucy Weasley, the only Weasleys in Ravenclaw, stamped their feet on the ground impatiently, and Louis actually made rude hand gestures towards Neil Warrington, his usually Veela-inspired perfect looks somewhat deterioated with fury.

'Slytherin--Ten to zero. No sign of the Snitch yet, the two Seekers, Scorpius Malfoy and Avery Hunt, still soaring above everyone... Game's back in action, Quaffle in Davies' possession, who passes to Corner, who dodges the Bludger, passes back to Davies, then to Scamander... Scamander advancing towards the goal post, HE SCORE--WAIT, NO, I can't believe it -- _POTTER SAVES IT_! '

Rose jumped up in delight and began to clap and cheer in an 'unsophisticated ' way. Then, she remembered that she was a _Prefect_ , and fell back in her seat, grinning. Alice was still gazing fixedly at the goal post, and Roxy and Dom seemed torn between whether to cheer for their cousin, or join the Ravenclaws' chorus of 'booos'.

'Brilliant save by Albus Severus Potter, score's still the same and no sign of the Sni--oh look everyone, Malfoy goes into a dive, maybe he's seen the Snitch! '

Rose picked out the blur of green and silver robes and platinum-blonde hair that was speeding down into a spectacular dive. The Ravenclaw Seeker, Avery Hunt was following his Slytherin counterpart down the dive. The stadium had gone absolutely quiet--everyone, including Felix Jordan seemed to be holding their breath. Even the rest of players seemed to have forgotten their own play and were carefully watching the two Seeker's.

It happened very suddenly. Scorpius halted his broom suddenly but smoothly; Hunt looked so surprised that he lost balance, jerked and almost slid off his broomstick. The next moment, Scorpius had jumped off his broom, rolling on the ground, clutching the elusive, fluttering Golden Snitch in his long and slim fingers. He let out a sound like a war-cry of triumph, colour flooding his otherwise pale face, and held out the struggling shimmer of gold aloft in his hands.

Silence ensued. Then, in a wild attempt to cover up for the stunned lack of motion, Felix cleared his throat, and said in an awed way, 'Ahem--Ladies and gentlemen, Scorpius Malfoy catches the Snitch, Slytherin-160, Ravenclaw--zero, SLYTHERIN WINS THE MATCH! '

However much Rose knew that she should , however much she _wanted_ to run to her two best friends, to congratulate them, she also knew that the swarm of supporters clad in green and silver that surrounded him would make sure to make it impossible for her at the moment. So she simply sat there and waited, till all her cousins(Lucy and Louis annoyingly sulky) and Lorcan had left, Alice craning her neck eagerly.

After a long wait of about half an hour, at end of which Rose considered setting off towards her dormitory and congratulating them later, the duo emerged breathlessly from amidst their admirers--Albus sprinting towards them like his life depended on it, and Scorpius, as cool and composed, bearing his usual aura of arrogance and smugness.

'We won! We WON! ' declared Albus, punching his fists jubilantly in the air, his already brilliant green eyes looking even brighter and more sparkly than ever. 'Nice save, Al! ' said Rose, grinning at him and ruffling his messy hair.

'And _you_ , 'she continued grinning even more broadly at Scorpius, _'That_ was an _awesome_ catch! If I hadn't been warching you so carefully all the time--'she broke off, blushing profusely, and then hurried on, '-- err--I mean, if my attention had drifted from the game for even a moment, I'd've missed that dive! ' Scorpius smirked. 'If we lost to that idiotic Hunt today, I'd have to drown myself in the Great Lake. ' he drawled.

Rose shook her head, and began to say, 'I think I'll go no--', but Scorpius cut across her sleekly and said, 'Party in the Slytherin Common Room tonight, 8 O' Clock. Password's 'Grindylow'. You have to come, Rose. ' Rose shook her head quickly and began, 'Oh no I can't--' 'Oh come _on_ , don't be killjoy. ' piped in Albus. 'Alice is coming too, you can come together. ' At this, Alice nodded eagerly.

'But we really are not allowed. 'said Rose, doubtfully. Scorpius stepped forward, edging dangerously close, his silver pools of eyes boring intensely into her warm, blue ones. 'Please Rose, I insist, 'he said, his voice so soft it was causing all sorts of uncomfortable sensations in the pit of her stomach. 'I--er--' she stammered. Why had her ability to speak properly isolated her at this crucial juncture?

'Ugh--Alright.'

Scorpius' pale features twisted into a crooked smile and he winked at her, making her face go warm. 'I should get going now, there's Quidditch practice in the evening too... and the Potions homework. You coming, Alice? ' The short-haired girl cast an upward longing glance at her tall and skinny boyfriend, shrugged and said, 'Yeah. See you at night, Al. '

'Mm. ' said Al, smiling at her.

All through the journey back to the Common Room, Rose had the distinct impression that Alice was sending knowing smirks her way. 'Why are you smiling like _that_? ' she asked finally. Alice's smirk only grew wider, and she stopped herself, reaching out for Rose's arm and stopping her too.

'Well, put it this way. ' said Alice, her eyes glinting mischievously. 'Your dearest cousin and your dearest dorm-mate spend so much of time persuading you for the party, you refuse. But then _Scorpius_ intervenes, and you go all quiet, and you _agree_!'

'He's my best friend too!' blurted Rose quickly, bright pink patches on her cheeks. 'No other reason. ' 'Hmmph. ' said Alice skeptically. ' _No other reason. '_

 _That's right_ , Rose told herself, as the duo walked quietly back to their Common Room, Alice still smirking knowingly, _No other reason. Nothing else._

 **A/N: Sooooo... where should I start my apologies from? That's right, from a valid explanation.**

 **Ah, exams! What else could have forced me to succumb to the monotony of revesion, going through my books like the world's biggest nerd, and lose my touch with this FanFiction completely? I hope you all will forgive me for the long wait.**

 **I dunno whether I did justice to the Quidditch part in this chapter, or to the chapter as a whole, but I'm posting this anyway, because the more I overthink, the more 'negligible-thing-of-the-past' this fic becomes for you and that is the last thing I'd want.**

 **I think I should settle the updates down to no more than once a week, and I promise I won't disappoint you.**

 **Also, if the next chapter gets too, I dunno, too 'sweet' or 'cheesy', please blame a certain someone in my vicinity who is inspiring me to basically put my daydreams about that someone into this fic. It is totally his fault.**

 **I'll stop boring you now, it's already late, and I have to get some much-needed sleep.**

 **PS:** **Please please please review and let me know what you think. It only spurs me on to write better.**

 **Till next time ~ S**


	13. Chapter 13: A Part With The Slytherins

**Disclaimer: Owning Harry Potter is a dream, not reality.**

 **This is a Scorpius POV**

Out-Of-Bounds (A Scorpius/Rose FanFiction)

Chapter 13: A Party With The Slytherins

'Maaaaan...how long are they going to take? ' groaned Albus, stretching his skinny arms. He had previously tried applying Sleakeazy's Hair Potion in large amounts back in their dormitory to tame his messy hair for the party, and failed miserably. In the end, he had concluded that the messy hair only contributed to his good looks, and Vanished the bottle of hair potion.

Presently, Scorpius and he were sitting on a couch nearest to the Common Room door, while most of the other Slytherins were busy dancing and singing and in general enjoying themselves after that morning's Quidditch victory. After having been the centre of attention of the whole House for at least an hour, the pair had successfully broken away from the crowd, much to their relief. As Scorpius anxiously watched the Common Room entrance , he loosened his green and silver tie a bit.

'I have a nasty feeling that they've backed out. ' said Scorpius grimly, but Albus shook his head. 'Not happening, 'he said firmly. 'The Rose I know is not someone to make false promises. And Alice was really eager to come. ' He paused and chuckled. 'I guess James is holding up Rose or something. ' Scorpius ran a hand through his windswept blonde hair and scooped a Butterbeer from a floating tray.

Just as he had taken a huge gulp of Butterbeer, the Entrance Door swung open and Alice Longbottom marched inside, followed by Rose. Scorpius choked on his Butterbeer and almost slopped some on his black cloak as his grey eyes took in her sight, blinking in disbelief.

She was wearing a blue dress that exposed just her ankles, and went rather well with her equally blue eyes. The flaming red hair that she was wearing down was no longer bushy and unruly-- but sleek and shiny. Up close, Scorpius could see no sign of any sort of make-up on her freckled face, but she seemed to be emitting a mesmerising glow despite that. With great effort, he shook himself and stood up to greet the new arrivals.

'Hi. ' they said together, both a little flushed. Albus put an arm around Alice and said slowly,'You look great.'

'Thanks, Al. ' said Alice, grinning up at him. 'And you too, Rosie. ' Rose smiled nervously. 'Thanks. ' 'What kept you? You took _ages._ ' complained Albus. 'Who else but my _dear_ cousin James?' said Rose in an annoyed voice. ' "Where are you going?", "When will you return? ", "Why are you going? ", "Who will you be with? ". ' 'I knew it. He'll never change. 'sighed Albus. 'So how did you finally get away? ' Rose smirked victoriously. 'Lily glared at him. Like Aunt Ginny.That was more than enough. ' The other three laughed.

'Well, what are we waiting for? ' said Albus, once their laughter had died away in the sound of music. 'Come on Alice, let's go! ' Alice smiled at him and the two shot off away from Scorpius and Rose saying, 'See you later! And take care of Rose! '

Silence fell between them, except the gradually increasing volume of music and cheers to Adrian Nott and Larry Zabini, who were exhibiting a splendid display of effects of Pepper-Imp-like sweets.

 _Take care of Rose? How in the name of Merlin was he supposed to do that?_

'Ahem--You look...nice. ' blurted out Scorpius, scratching his platinum-blonde hair a little nervously. Having her so near was even more nerve-racking than pre-Quidditch nerves. 'Er... Thanks.' replied Rose, with an embarrassed smile, her face very red.

'Let's sit down. Butterbeer? '

'Yeah. '

She took a seat beside him on the couch Albus and he had been sitting on earlier. Scorpius offered her a Butterbeer, glad to have something to do. She sipped some of it and started humming a random tune. Scorpius racked his brain wildly, desperately searching for something to talk about. _And they say I'm top of my class,_ he thought angrily, _when I can't even think of something to talk about with Rose._

'What Quidditch team do you support? ' asked Rose abruptly, taking another sip of her drink. 'The Tornadoes. 'replied Scorpius. 'You? ' 'Chudley Cannons forever! ' said Rose, grinning widely.

There was a loud thump behind them as the gorilla-like figures of Vincent and Steve Goyle fell down on the floor, shattering the glasses of Firewhiskey each had been holding into a million pieces. A few people noticed, and ignored them, but Scorpius could never have been one of these. He got up swiftly at once and murmured, ' _Evanesco.'_ The liquid spilled on the ground Vanished at once. Rose had got up too, and she hastily pointed her wand at the shattered pieces of glass, saying, ' _Reparo. '_ The two glasses repaired themselves.

'I think I'll have to carry these two to the dormitories, 'sighed Scorpius. He cast Rose a worried look. 'Will you be okay? ' ' 'course I will. ' she huffed haughtily, but her tone was reassuring all the same. _'Locomoter Goyle and Goyle._ ' said Scorpius, and the twins were slightly lifted from the ground. 'I'll be back in no time... Just stay here, 'he warned, and Rose nodded.

It took a great deal of effort for Scorpius to get the two into their respective four-poster beds, and even more to get away from them, for both of them grabbed Scorpius' hand whenever he tried to get away, mumbling, 'Fire- _hic_ -whiskey... '

After what seemed to have been at least half an hour of desperate wrestling, Scorpius got away from them, the struggle making him pant furiously. He climbed down the stairs, and re-entered the Common Room. Except it had changed a great deal since the last he had been there.

Smoke and nothing else. Yet no one seemed remotely fussed about it, because as much as he could see, the dancing or singing or anything else had not stopped. Scorpius rushed forwards frantically, not caring the foots he stepped on, and the consequent barks he earned, just one desperate thought on his mind--making sure that Rose was okay.

He could now make out the couch he had left her sitting on--but it was just an empty seat now. Two tankards of Butterbeer were kept on an adjacent table, one empty and the other almost cometely full. Panicking slightly, and his stomach lurching uncomfortably, he looked towards the Entrance Door. It was open.

Scorpius hurried out of the Common Room, through the Entrance Door, and to his greatest relief, he found a figure with flaming red hair just a few meters from the steps that led to the Stone Wall.

Rose was down on her knees at the bottom of the staircase, coughing. Scorpius couldn't see her face, because her red hair hid it from view. 'Merlin, Rose, you gave me a heart failure! ' he cried with concern. 'Are you okay?'

'I'm... f-fine... 'she muttered, when her coughs had subsided. Scorpius sat down on a cold stone step beside her. 'I don't think so. ' he persisted sternly. 'Alright... I do feel a bit... dizzy? ' she mumbled burying her forehead in her hands. Scorpius thought hard for a second, and then his expression cleared. 'I'll bet you anything you swallowed some of Sillew's Best Bittersweet Vodka disguised as Butterbeer. ' he said bitterly. 'I think it was that Butterbeer... I drrrrraaaaank it and it tasted... yuck! ' said Rose, her voice very unsteady.

Then, out of the blue, she fell sideways, so forcefully that had Scorpius not absorbed the force of collison with his firm chest, both of them would have fallen down out of doubt. To his great surprise, she did not withdraw, but only clung on harder to the front of his robes. At a completely loss of what to do, Scorpius awkwardly lifted his hands stroked her shoulder gently, whispering, 'Let's just get you to your Common Room... '

She did not respond immediately.

When she did, she slowly lifted her head from his robes and looked directly into his silver eyes. 'This scent...of mangoes... is really nice... Where'd you get it? ' 'Imported from India, ' Scorpius replied patiently. 'But that's off the point... we have to get you to your Common Room. ' 'You really are... 'mumbled Rose. But 'what he really was' only trailed away into the soft, soothing silence of that October night.

As she tore her eyes away from Scorpius' pools of silver as if in confusion, her face still painfully close to his, he felt like every inch of his hands that held her securely from falling, every inch of his pale face--had gone numb. The uncontrolled rush of Adrenaline inside him, and the sudden light-headedness of his mind was making it almost impossible to think in his usual clear, calm and composed way.

Not even remotely aware of his actions, he clasped her chin gently and tilted it upwards so that she was again looking straight into his eyes. All he knew that he was leaning forwards with every passing second, and could even have counted the number of freckles on her cheeks...

 **A/N: I know I haven't done justice to this chapter _at all_ , so please don't be mad at me. I really am bad at these kind of scenes.**

 **I have kept my updating promise this time... right?** **So as a reward for my punctuality, please please review and let me know know how bad or how good or whatever you think of this chapter**!

 **Now I'm off to sleep, before my Gran smothers me for being up this late:)))**


	14. Chapter 14: I Don't See You That Way

That feeling when you've been trying to remember a manga's name all week and then finally you recall it. And then you finish 45 chapters in 4 hours. Isn't that feeling great? No, it's marvellous!

This chapter annoyed me sooooooooooooooooooooooo much! This week has been a cycle of writing and rewriting this chapter, and even now, it seems very lousy to me:(

This is a Rose POV.

Out-Of-Bounds (A Scorpius/Rose FanFiction)

Chapter 14: I Don't See You That Way

It had all been a dream. Yes, that'd be it. A few moments more and she'd wake up to Saturday morning, go down to breakfast with Hugo and her cousins, and wish Albus and Sc...orpius luck. That was it. She'd just had a stupid dream in which she'd gone to the Slytherin Common Room for a party, drank a disgusting Butterbeer, and that, and that Scorpius had--

Rose opened her eyes with a snap. Her trembling hands reached underneath the blanket that had been pulled upto her chin, and she could feel the folds of the flowing blue dress she had worn to the party. After moving her feet a bit she discovered that someone had taken off her shoes. She looked about her in confusion, and things began to clarify a bit.

Rose was back in her dormitory, which was deserted. _How did I get here_ , she thought, sitting up and running a hand through her hair, which had regained its usual bushiness. The curtains of the window overlooking the Great Lake were drawn, so she couldn't tell whether it was dark outside or not.

The door of the dormitory sprang open, and Lily marched inside with a smile on her face, her floaty, dark red hair dancing behind her. 'You're _finally_ awake! ' she said, flopping down on Alice's bed. 'Yeah, 'replied Rose, rubbing her blue eyes. Lily checked her watch and giggled. 'You've set a new record of oversleeping! Broken even James' previous one! ' 'What time is it? ' asked Rose, stopping dead.

'11:23 AM, to be exact. ' said Lily.

Rose clapped her hands to her mouth in shock, and began, ' _11:23_ AM! What in the name of _Dumbledore_ have I done? How could I have slept till so late?! Merlin save m--' 'Relax, Rose, 'said Lily bracingly. 'It's only natural you needed rest after what happened yesterday. '

Yeah, _yesterday_. If Lily knew what had happened last night, then surely all of her family would know by now. I'm in so much of trouble, I kissed Scorpius when I was drunk, what if Albus had spotted me somehow? What if he had told the rest of the family? What if my parents, and above all, Dad knows? _I should as well be bracing myself to be get disowned_ _through_ _Owl Post--_

No, she must not panic! Lily was right in front of here, she should atleast confirm whether her family _actually_ knew before thinking too far.

Rose carefully looked at Lily, and asked in a slightly hoarse voice, 'What-er-happened last night? I can't quite... remember.' Lily smirked. 'You mean you don't remember _anything_? ' Rose only shook her head nervously.

To her surprise, Lily sighed as if she had just been unsuccessful in extracting valuable information, and then said, 'I think it was past midnight, and I was in the Common Room--finishing my essay on Kappas-when Alice walked in through the Portrait Hole, and guess who followed her?Albus and Malfoy, dragging you through the Entrance! '

'I was so surprised to see you unconscious, I almost spilled ink on my parchment! So I hurried upto them and Alice told me that you'd accidentally got drunk at the party and Malfoy had narrowly saved you from falling. Me and her brought you here. That's it. '

'That's... it? ' repeated Rose, something akin to relief swelling her heart. Good, regardless of whatever had happened last night, at least her _family_ didn't know. 'Albus wasn't angry or something?' 'Nah, why would he be? '

Rose didn't answer, but bent her head a little, trying to get her thick and unruly hair to hide her face from her cousin. The relief that had _Engorgio_ -ed her heart had only been temporary, almost negligible compared to the way her heart was now pounding against her ribs. She closed her warm, blue eyes, clenching her fists, thinking hard.

 _How could I have did that? What came over me? And Scorpius... he_ _was not high, couldn't he have done anything about it? But no, he had just leant forwards, closer and closer--_

'Well anyway, you've got a Prefects' meeting at noon, that Dharth or something told me. ' said Lily, shaking Rose out of her thoughts. ' _Sidharth, '_ corrected Rose, getting up from her bed. 'I guess I'll have to go hungry. ' 'Don't worry about that, Rosie, ' Lily informed her brightly. 'I've saved you loads from breakfast! ' 'Thanks Lils, 'said Rose, grinning at her. 'You're the best. '

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

'Prefects, you are dismissed! ' boomed the voice of Professor Longbottom, as he swept out of the classroom. The Prefects around Rose began to talk and bustle and slowly move out, but she just stared disappointedly at the piece of parchment in her hands.

 _Sidharth Mehta_ , it read, when she so wanted it to read 'Scorpius Malfoy'.Not that Sidharth, the other Gryffindor Prefect, would make a bad Prefect Patrol partner. But still, given the chance, she would _obviously_ go for Scorpius! _No, no, no, don't think about him, you're supposed to be mad at him! He could have stopped that kiss! He_ should've _stopped that kiss!_ _Concentrate on how shameful all of that is making yo--_

'Rose. '

Rose whirled around to face Scorpius, who looked a bit tired, his blonde hair more windswept than usual, his pale hands in his cloak pockets. He was eyeing her with concern, and his blood-red lips were twisted in a sort of smile. Somehow that made her only angrier.

'What d'you want? ' she snapped briskly, folding her arms with hostility. He seemed a bit taken aback with her rudeness, but said, 'I only wanted to make sure whether you're okay. ' Rose flicked her braided hair behind her ear. 'You don't need to, seeing as you have already taken care of that.GOODBYE.' She turned to go, but he caught her wrist and pulled her back forcefully.

'Is anything the matter? ' His voice was soft but commanding, his grey eyes boring into hers intensely. Rose's stomach squirmed a little, but she disregarded this. Tried to disregard, at least.

'Oh nothing nothing! ' cried Rose, her voice very high-pitched, wrenching her hand out of his grip. Scorpius frowned. 'Are you telling me or not? ' 'You see, you don't even remember! ' cried Rose. 'But it's not easy for _me_ to just, just forget about it! '

'About _what_? You're making no sense! ' said Scorpius, looking completely bewildered and gaping at her in exasperation.

 _The arrogant prat_ , thought Rose, a blush creeping on her cheeks, _he wants to hear it from my mouth._ She snapped her eyes shut, clenched her fists and abruptly blurted out, 'We kissed each other last night!!! ' _And now excuse me, I have to jump off the Astronomy Tower or drown myself in the Great Lake. Either of them._

Rose slowly opened her eyes, expecting the blonde in front of her to be squirming with embarrassment, but there was nothing of that sort. On the contrary (though he had flushed _just_ a _little_ ), he looked even more surprised than he had been looking until now. A few moments of stunned silence. Then, Scorpius took a deep breath, and said slowly and deliberately, as if weighing each word:

'Are--you-- _daft_? '

Of all the things Rose had been bracing herself for, this was not even on the list. 'What? ' 'Are you _daft_?' repeated Scorpius, with an expression of utmost bewilderment. ' _You're_ not making any sense. 'said Rose, unwittingly quoting him from earlier.

Scorpius shook his head incredulously, took another deep breath and said,'What gives you the impression that we _kissed_ yesterday?' 'I--Well--don't remember it very well, --'stammered Rose, losing her head completely, '--but I do remember seeing you _this_ close to my face! '

'So I was because I had to stop you from sliding down the stairs! ' said Scorpius, coolly. 'You were drunk, you didn't know a person in there except Albus, and he wasn't anywhere near, d'you think I'd've left you there like that? ' 'Well no--' But he held up a hand to silence her.

'And d'you think that I'd've snogged you when you weren't even in your senses?! Is that really what you think of me? That I'd do something like that to a girl who didn't know half the things she was saying or doing? ' Rose looked straight into his eyes and was uncomfortable to see them shining with hurt.

She stoically looked down at her knees and mumbled, 'So you...didn't kiss me? ' 'Of course I didn't. ' he drawled. 'And besides, I don't see you that way. '

Never in all her life had felt stupider. Never. Why the hell had she come to such a conclusion?!

'I'm sorry...Scorpius, 'she blurted thickly. 'For...being mad at you, for being so rude and so...unreasonable. '

Scorpius shrugged and took a step towards her, and for a moment she thought that he was going to give her a squeeze. However, he only patted her breezily on the head and bent forwards to whisper, ' It's okay. I'll see you around. ' Rose awkwardly lifted her head slightly and stole one last glance at his pale and pointed face, before he gave her a small smile and walked away, leaving her alone in the classroom.

 _I don't see you that way._

 **A/N: Thank God I've never told you all where I live, or you'd be throwing rotten tomatoes at me for insulting JKR's Wizarding World with the heap of trash this chapter was. I think my writing skills are really deteriorating.**

 **I also had a hard time deciding on the title of this chapter, ending with this one.**

 **I'll congratulate myself for updating on time, though.**

 **One way you amazing people can help me improve the quality of this Fic is by REVIEWING.** **I mean just a _few_ reviews will do the trick, I promise!!**

 **Au Revoir! (Sorry for my French)**

 **PS: Any Ao Haru Ride fans here? I just finished reading the manga and I've fallen in love with it. I have literally no ideo why it is not as popular as Kimi ni Todoke.**

 **PPS: Aren't Kou and Touma unforgivably cute?**

 **Till next time~Shehjaar**


	15. Chapter 15: Hogsmeade Again

**Disclaimer: See previous chapters. I'm tired of repeating the same thing every time.**

 **I know it's been unforgivably long since the last chapter, but trust me, I have my reasons. However, it will be better if I explain the ignorance this FanFic has suffered at my hands at the end of this chapter. My hands are itching to get on with this story!**

 **WARNING:I'm making this chapter longer than the rest, to compensate for the loooooong wait. It may get too long and boring, so I'm warning all of you lovelies.**

 **This is a Scorpius' POV.**

Out-Of-Bounds(A Scorpius/Rose FanFiction)

Chapter 15: Hogsmeade Again

'Are you _sure_ Alice said that she'd be coming in just a minute?' asked Albus checking his watch worriedly and glancing along the corridor again. ' _How_ many times do I have to repeat one thing before your brain registers it?' snapped Rose, rolling her warm, blue eyes. Albus opened his mouth his mouth to retort, a thoroughly aggressive look on his face, but Scorpius cleared his throat loudly, saying, 'Honestly, do you both _ever_ stop fighting? Just be _quiet_.' The two cousins scowled together, but fell silent nonetheless.

It really was a _miracle_ how Scorpius was managing to maintain his calm demeanour, while his insides were almost _exploding_ with crossness with Alice Longbottom. It was the first Hogsmeade weekend of that term, and Albus had written to Teddy inviting him to Hogsmeade in the evening. Teddy had readily agreed to meet them at The Three Broomsticks and spend the entire evening with them. It had been _so long_ since Scorpius had seen him that his excitement knew no bounds. All day long he was too unusually restless to concentrate on half the things he was reading, or even eat his _lunch_ properly. And now Alice was delaying this much-anticipated meeting.

Sudden hurried footsteps, and a second later, the short figure of Lily Potter came sprinting towards them, her expression worried. 'Lily!' cried Rose and Scorpius together, as she came to an abrupt halt before them, pushed some dark red hair away from her face, panting heavily. ' _Albus!'_ she cried urgently, clutching her brother's hand.'You've _got_ to come with me! Alice-' 'What's wrong with her?' Albus said sharply. 'I don't know exactly, but I _think_ two Seventh-Years were having a fight or something, and she was passing by, and one of them accidentally hit her with a Stinging Jinx...Lorcan saw all of it and he's taken her to Madame Pomfrey...but oh, _you've got to come!_ '

'Right,' replied Albus, his voice sounding weak and determined at the same time. 'I'm coming with you, Al, I can't stand not kno-'began Rose, but Albus shook his head firmly. 'Teddy will be waiting for all of us...and he's usually always on time. Both of you can go on without me. I'll be fine!' he said, with a feeble attempt at a smile, none of whose warmth reached his brilliant green eyes. 'If you say so, mate,' said Scorpius, shrugging. 'But-' began Rose, her tone worried, but Albus cut across her again.

 _'How many times do I have to repeat one thing before your brain registers it?'_ he said, in a very good imitation of his cousin's voice. ' Come _on_ , Rose, Teddy will be waiting for you!' Rose gave a sigh of surrender, and Albus patted her shoulder, smiling weakly. 'We'll get going now, then,' said Scorpius, checking his watch. 'Alright...have fun and-' Albus dropped his voice to whisper and, looking at Scorpius, said,' Scorp, please take care of Rose.' 'I'm not a _baby!_ ' snapped Rose, her face turning an angry red colour. Then, she grasped Scorpius' wrist with her right hand, stoically turned her back to Albus, and announced,'Let's go, Scorpius.'

'See you later, Al!' called out Scorpius feebly, as Rose led the two of them out of the Hogwarts Castle, still grasping his wrist. His legs almost trembling with sudden excitement that he could not explain, Scorpius wiped some sweat from his pale forehead, and said hoarsely,'Erm...Rose...will you let go of my hand?' Rose stopped dead, cast him a horrified look, and pushed his hand away from herself as though it had burnt her. 'Oh.., I'm so sorry! I didn't mean-I mean -well-' she stuttered, covering her mouth and turning crimson.

'It's alright,' said Scorpius, rubbing the back of his neck. His wrist was still warm with the soft touch of Rose's palm, and his fingers had a funny, tingling sensation that was making it impossible to think straight. And that was when his situation finally struck him as real: _He was alone with Rose._

In the confusion of Rose's protests and Al's persuasion, he had not had time to think of it that way. _Alone with Rose!_ How was he supposed to deal with this? Ever since their confrontation after the Prefects' meeting two weeks ago, he had the feeling that things had been very awkwardly formal from her side. He still remembered the party, how she had felt so nice and warm against his firm chest, her eyes clear and blue, like the beautiful ocean, her playful freckles, her cheeks pink, her nose an inch away from his...It was surprising how her mere presence made his hardened exteriors just melt away, or-

'Why have we stopped?' asked Rose suddenly, cutting across his thoughts. 'Uh, I dunno.'replied Scorpius. Rose giggled. 'Let's get a move on, or we'll never get there!' 'Right,'agreed Scorpius and they began to walk towards the village of Hogsmeade in silence.

Fifteen minutes later, they were making their way through the crowd of Hogwarts students buying new Sugar-Quills at Honeydukes, or new merchandise from the Hogsmeade Branch of the Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes, or filling tummies with newly-out Honeydukes sweets, or entering Madame Pudifoot's Tea Shop with their sweethearts. Being a member of the Weasley family, however, Rose attracted a fair quantity of attention, and being seen with a Malfoy didn't make matters better. The whispering around them grew louder still, until Rose fiercely shouted out to the whole crowd that pointing was rude, upon which everybody started minding his/her own business again.

Scorpius began to laugh. _'What?'_ snapped Rose, tossing her flaming red hair behind her. 'The looks on their faces when you shut them up..oh Merlin.. _.priceless!'_ Rose grinned proudly and together the pair entered The Three Broomsticks.

Scorpius' steely grey eyes swept across the diverse crowd of the pub, searching for a familiar shock of turquoise-blue hair, when suddenly, his insides dropped.

Sitting all alone on a table by the window with a Butterbeer in front of him was a tall, middle-aged man in Muggle clothes, with large hands and feet, flaming red hair hair that was receding somewhat, freckles, and eyes-warm, blue eyes that had the same oceany quality as Rose, but which were wide with shock and disbelief.

 _Rose's Dad._

Barely believing his eyes, Scorpius glanced sideways at Rose, only to see his own shock and confusion, not to mention _terror_ , mirrored in her freckled face. She, however, did not look at him, but took a timid step forward towards her father, smiling feebly and saying, _'D-Dad!_ I-It's so good to see you! But...w-what are you doing here?!' 'You don't look too pleased to see me, Rosie,' said , his eyes lingering on Scorpius' stormy grey ones, who, in turn, returned the gesture firmly.'But before I answer your questions, I have some matters to discuss with you, young lady.' 'L-Like?' whimpered Rose, nervously tucking some loose hair behind her ear.

'Let's go out for some fresh air, Rose,' replied , getting up from his seat. Rose clapped her hands to her mouth fearfully and drew a line significantly across her throat with her finger. walked menancingly upto Scorpius, who stepped back from the door to let him go,his fists clenched. Then came Rose, looking very much like she had been caught breaking school rules, and then Scorpius himself followed her out of pub, closing the door behind him.

'So-why are you here with him?' asked Ron, his jaw tightly clenched, throwing Scorpius a nasty glare.

'Dad, let me explain-'

' _Explain_? Explain _what_?! _Haven't_ I told you to stay away from Malfoys?! Why, then, does he walk into a pub with you looking so happy on a Hogsmeade-weekend?!Wh-'

' _Please_ Dad-'

' _Please_?' growled her father angrily.' _Please_?!There's no 'Please' about this!What are you doing here with him?!And you-'he added stepping towards Scorpius like a bull ready to charge,'-How _dare_ you trespass within a _meter_ of my daughter?!'

'DAD!'cried Rose, sounding close to tears.'We were going to come here with Albus, but he had to stay back, and he told us to go on without him!Why are you acting like this?! _Why_?!' Scorpius wanted to put a comforting arm around her, and stroke her head, but presently, he thought that standing poker-faced was the best option.

To a greater shock than he had experienced minutes ago, Mr. Weasley _laughed_ \- a playful, pleasant sound. His expression was no more livid- but had changed to a wide, mischievous grin. Even the colour of his hair was changing- from the trademark flaming red of the Weasleys, to a vivid shade of turquoise-blue. The oceany blue eyes slowly turned into dark and twinkling, the freckles vanished, height reduced and shoulders broadened.

Teddy Lupin roared with uncontrolled laughter, clutching his tummy. Scorpius exchanged stunned looks with Rose, who looked as though she might faint from relief. The next moment, she had sprung on Teddy, punching every bit of him she could reach. ' _What_ is the meaning of all this, Teddy?! I'm _sick_ of all this, you and Fred and James, you all think you're so _cool_ with your _pathetic_ jokes! Well, let me clarify that you're _not_!You scare the living daylights out of me, and you _laugh_? I never expected you to take a joke _this_ far. W-'

'WHOA-WHOA-WHOA!Take it easy, Rosi-OUCH!' winced Teddy, attempting to shield himself from Rose. Scorpius flung his arms around Rose and pulled her backward to save Teddy, his stomach squirming painfully. As soon as he had done so, Rose stilled instantly, slowly turned her head and took a moment to look at him at length, her eyes as wide as tennis balls. Then, she gave a little squeak and pulled away from him in the same manner as she had pushed away his wrist earlier that day.

Teddy was on both hands and feet on the ground, now eyeing Rose a little sheepishly. 'Hard luck, Teddy,'smirked Scorpius, helping his cousin to his feet. Teddy ruffled his unique hair, half-smiling and half-moaning, and said,'I should've thought I was playing a prank on a _Weasley_. Especially Ron and 'mione's daughter. Seriously, though, you hit me harder than you ought to have.' 'You got what you _deserved_ , Teddy,' huffed Rose, tossing her hair haughtily, but smiling nervertheless.

'Come on, let's go inside.' said Scorpius, leading the way.

'How was my imitation of Ron, anyway?'asked Teddy, winking at Scorpius once they had settled down and ordered two more Butterbeers. 'It was fabulous.'agreed Rose. 'You played Dad really well. Scarily well.' 'Thanks for the compliment,' said Teddy., bowing his head. 'Yeah, you really scared me.'said Scorpius. Teddy grinned.

'So what kept Albus?' asked Teddy, and Rose immediately began to explain everything briefly to him. 'Hard luck,'sighed Teddy, taking a sip of his Butterbeer.'I really wanted to meet him, and it's going to be a tough schedule at Auror Training from now on, because it's the last year. They never let us rest. And then there's the wedding next year. Merlin, _how_ am I going to survive theses six months?' 'I'm sure you'll manage alright,'said Scorpius, smirking. 'After all, you have dear, _dear_ Victoire Weasley.' 'She becomes a lot less dearer when we're going through wedding plans,' said Teddy, though the colour of his hair was fluctuating between blue and red.'I asked Harry and Bill for some advice about coping, and what do they tell me? _''What the lady wants, the lady gets.''_ Seriously, they can at least _try_ to be helpful.'

Rose reached out her hand from across the table and patted Teddy's shoulder sympathetically, sighing,'You have my sympathies.'

'But that's enough about me,what about you? Tell me about the DADA lessons with our _great_ Golden Trio! And how many autograph requests did Harry get _this_ time?'asked Teddy, looking at both of them eagerly. 'The DADA lesson was amazing,'said Scorpius smoothly. 'Of course, I was familiar with Stunning since my Fourth Year, but Rose's Mum showed me the accurate technique. And Al's Dad is the height of cool.' 'And Uncle Harry got _thirty_ _seven_ autograph requests this time,' giggled Rose. 'He is a celebrity, after all.' said Scorpius.

'Didn't Ron say anything to you?' asked Teddy, the corner of his lips twitching. 'He just ignored me, to be precise,' Scorpius replied nonchalantly; out of the corner of his grey eyes, Scorpius could see Rose shifting uncomfortably in her seat. 'Uncle Harry told us that we'll have another DADA lesson with them after Christmas!' Rose said loudly. 'And guess what, they'll teach us the Patronus Charm! Oh, I can't wait, I've always wanted to see what form my Patronus will take-Dad told me it tells us a lot about our inner feelings.' 'It sure does,'agreed Teddy. 'Maybe that's the reason Hermione's is an ot- '

The door of the crowded pub flung open just then, and four redheads and a blonde marched inside, making a beeline towards the table where the three of them were sitting. 'TEDDY!' cried Fred Weasley and James Sirius Potter, pulling Teddy into an enormous bear-hug. 'I'm sorry we're late!'squeaked Lily Potter and Hugo Weasley, joining the hug. 'Nice to see you again, Ted,' grinned Louis Weasley, as he too flung his arms around his future brother-in-law. Once they had all let go of him, they scooped nearby chairs for themselves and joined the table, beaming. That is, until their eyes fell on the handsome grey-eyed blonde sitting beside Rose.

Except Lily and Hugo, who acknowledged Scorpius with a brief nod and small smile, all of them narrowed their eyes, their expressions dark. 'What are _you_ doing here, Malfoy?' spat Louis, his fists clenched. 'Teddy happens to be my cousin, to be precise,' said Scorpius, his voice cold as ice, and his jaw tight. 'You're not welcome here,' growled Fred. 'Teddy seems to have invited me to join him, funnily enough,' replied Scorpius , quite calmly. 'Alright guys, break it up, break it up now,' Teddy interjected hastily, and Rose nodded with vigour.

' _Fine_ ,' said the two Weasleys and Potter, rolling their eyes at Scorpius. As if he gave a damn.

A hand curled around his robes, and Scorpius turned his blonde head sharply to see Rose's blue eyes fluttering apologetically,but he merely gave a shrug.

In coming years, Scorpius would never be able to fully understand how he had managed to survive the next thirty minutes around the same table with those dratted cousins of Albus'. It was not the fact that he was ignored that bothered Scorpius; that gesture was a common one towards Malfoys. He had other reasons. For one thing, they were too gesticulating to be paid much attention to, and another, they were, after all , _Weasleys_. The Potter girl was not _that_ bad, though, but the others, well...there was no need for further elaborations. The only possible explanation was that he had Rose and Teddy, which made things slightly more tolerable. _If only Albus had come!_

After those thirty minutes, however, it was clear that things weren't going to get better. Therefore, he took a great gulp of his Butterbeer, rolled up his sleeves, and said clearly,'Er-Teddy, I'm feeling a bit warm. Mind if I go outside for some fresh air?' James Potter whispered,'Good riddance!' in Fred Weasleys's ear and both of them sniggered. Teddy frowned slightly, then gave a half-shrug and a half-nod, and said,'Your wish. But be back soon.' ' _Roger_ _that_ ,' replied Scorpius with a small grin, and then turning to Rose, said cautiously,'Wanna come with me?'

Rose gave him a long, searching look, looked around at the keen and watchful eyes of her family, and seemed to be going through some sort of fierce internal struggle. Then, she jerked herself with sudden resolution, looked directly into Scorpius' eyes, her cheeks pink, and replied, 'Alright.' James, Louis and Fred stared at her with their jaws dropped, and Hugo coughed. With a great jolt of pleasure and satisfaction, Scorpius waited as she too, downed her mug of Butterbeer, got up, tidied the folds of her robes, ran her fingers through her fiery, unruly locks and followed Scorpius closely out of the pub.

As they left, he thought he saw the Potter girl glance over her shoulder and share a knowing smile with Hugo. Somehow, Scorpius did not like it. _He did not like it at all._

 **A/N: Sooo...here go my excuses.**

 **First of all, I really was busy. We have projects at school and I spent a lot of time preparing from them. Not to mention, school itself became boringly stressful these days.**

 **Secondly, I turned Fourteen the week before the last! My fourteenth birthday was just...a little less boring than the rest of my days. Plus, the fact that I lost a debate competition on that day made matters worse.**

 **Thirdly, I had just random ideas for other FanFics which couldn't wait till I had posted them. Do check them out, and if you do, I hope you'll like it.**

 **Also I have been feeling very disinterested and depressed lately, so I don't feel like doing _anything._ But I'll not bore you with my _tale of woe_ ; it's pretty boring.**

 **Please, please review...I thrive on them!**

 **PS: I don't know what's wrong with my computer, but none of the things I type get saved in Bold or Italics. Hmph...now I can't even emphasize on certain words. When has luck ever been good to me? If you have any suggestions how to fix this..please inform me.**

 **Till next time ~ Shehjaar.**


	16. Chapter 16:The Shrieking Shack

**Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure that the Harry Potter series does _not_ belong to me.**

 **Errr...h** **ow long exactly have I been inactive on FanFiction? I have _no_ idea about that. All I know is that life busied me with its endless list of things to be taken care of, whilst this poor story slipped to the bottom of my priority list. So all I wanted to say is _Sorry_ for the long wait.** **I promise it won't happen again.**

 **Enough said, let's get on with the story!**

 **This is a Rose POV.**

Out-Of-Bounds (A Scorpius/Rose FanFiction)

Chapter 16: The Shrieking Shack

'I'm really, _really_ sorry about James and Fred, Scorp, the way they spoke to you was so rude...'said Rose, as Scorpius and she stepped out of the crowded pub. 'It's not your fault, Rose, 'drawled the blonde, his forehead relaxed, 'And I've started to get used to it. People and their snide remarks. ' The corner of his lip twitched nonchalantly as he said this.

His words seemed to drop an unspeakably heavy weight in the pit of her stomach as Rose recalled how _she_ had been of those 'people'. 'You don't have to get used to it, 'she said quietly. 'You should tell them exactly what you think about humongous jerks like them! '

'Well, I never said that I _don't_ give them a piece of my mind, ' said Scorpius, 'But in the end, how many minds can I change? It feels like I'm just wasting my breath for a lost cause, because a _Malfoy will also be a Malfoy._ ' He stopped suddenly, frowned at the look on Rose's face, and hastily went on, 'But you don't have to get all worked up about this, you know. Let's not spoil the mood. '

'The mood? 'laughed Rose. 'And what exactly is _the mood_? ' 'That's something for later, 'he chuckled.

Something about this struck her all at once, and she said, 'Where are we headed to, anyway? ' 'No idea. ' 'The Shrieking Shack?' Scorpius paused to think, and then shrugged. 'If you say so. '

The weather was pleasant, soothing and mild. The streets had emptied a bit, probably because the people had taken refuge inside bars and pubs. On and on the two walked, discussing topics like the O.W.Ls, homework, Quidditch and occassionally cracking a joke and bursting into unnecessarily loud peals of laughter. Like they were somehow trying to not bring up the awkwardness that persisted whenever silence creeped.

Rose cast a covert glance at side of his firm jawline, thinking hard. She had thought that becoming friends with him would make things normal, but it seemed like matters had just worsened. Earlier, she could just mock him or scorn him to calm her nerves if the atmosphere got too wierd... But now that they were friends, she was even more confused about all of it. Where was all this leading to?

Perhaps sensing her gaze, his head turned sharply, and his silver-grey eyes met hers, almost with surprise. He raised his pale eyebrows with a small smile, and Rose shook her head lightly. She didn't care where this led to as long as she could enjoy the sheer pleasure of looking at him-his pale and pointed features, blonde hair, blood-red lips, grey eyes, his drawling voice- _everything._

'Here we are, 'he whispered, cutting across her train of thoughts. Startled, Rose looked ahead to see that they had reached the Shrieking Shack-a shabby-looking abandoned building with no ways of entering it, that looked dull in comparison with its otherwise colorful surroundings.

'And _that's_ my favourite spot. Albus' too. Come on, Rose. ' continued the handsome blonde, leading the way to a tombstone-like rock dedicated to Severus Tobias Snape.

Of course, she knew about this writing. Uncle Harry had brought Albus and her there himself when they were eight. And he had told them about Severus Snape, and his undaunted bravery and courage that had saved his life innumerable times.

'My father says he was a great Potioneer, 'said Scorpius quietly. 'I'd've fancied meeting him. ' 'Al's dad says so too, 'said Rose. 'And it was _his_ instructions in a book that once saved _my_ Dad from getting poisoned.'

'Let's sit there, 'said Scorpius, pointing towards a solid, broad rock just enough to accommodate two. 'Okay,' shrugged Rose, and they both took a seat on the rock, fitting against each other warmly and comfortably. _If only we could stay like this forever,_ thought Rose, suppressing a grin.

'Uh-Rose?'

'Mm? '

'Mind if I put my arm beind you? That way we'll be more comfortable. ' 'Yeah, sure. ' replied Rose, blushing so furiously her skin turned the colour of her hair. Scorpius slipped his arm casually around her shoulder, and Rose found herself resting her head snugly against his firm, athletic chest, her heart pounding against her ribs. She could almost feel the heat radiating from him.

'Your hair's so... ' whispered Scorpius, his voice barely audible. Rose tilted her head so that her blue eyes were boring into his, her eyebrows raised. 'So...' His voice trailed off, and he made wild spiralling motions with his free hand. The other one twirled an unruly lock of fiery hair, a ghost of a smile playing around his lips. 'I guess it is,' breathed Rose, not once blinking. She watched as he edged an inch closer, his breathing steady--quite the opposite of hers.

And then, without thinking, she pressed her lips against his.

The kiss was nice, warm and slowly taking pace. Scorpius felt stiff at first, as though shocked, and then it all melted away. His hand slipped around her waist, and the other entangled itself in her hair, kissing her almost hungrily. His grip on her waist was tight, and she heard him sigh in her mouth.

As for Rose, she wasn't prepared for the jolt of pure, electrifying pleasure that shot through her at his touch. She arched into him, and ran her hands over his well-built shoulders, her heart's hammeeing beats mirrored in his chest. The time seemed to drag on and on, but they held on to each other as though it was the end of the world.

When they did let go, they were both panting. Rose didn't even dare look at him, and her cheeks felt flushed and warm. Scorpius, however cleared his throat and said softly, 'What was all this about?' Rose whimpered a bit, and covered her face in embarrassment, stammering, 'I-I didn' t mean to--it just came over me and I-- well, I know you didn't like it--' 'Who said anything about not liking it?' smirked Scorpius, and Rose squirmed under his killer gaze.

'I just meant that it wasn't expected,'he continued, still displaying his typical Malfoy smirk. Rose half smiled and covered her face again. She was blushing now, curse it. 'The others will be looking for us,' she said thickly. 'We should go.' Scorpius nodded indifferently and got up, and together they made their way back to the crowded pub in silence, Rose's mind keeping pace with her pounding heart.

Scorpius seemed to have got some of his old swagger back, something she associated with his pre-friendship indifferent aura, as he walked beside without once throwing her a glance, his expression partly arrogant, partly inscrutable.

Did he know that he was the only boy she had ever kissed? Did he know how special it was for her? Did he even _care_? Or was this all just meaningless, an act of having succumbed to pure lust of the moment, and nothing more?

But there was no time to think about all this as they re-entered the crowded pub, and sensed the curious glances of Teddy, Lily, Hugo. 'Where' s James? And Fred?Louis? ' asked Rose, conspicuously sitting beside Teddy. She could almost feel Scorpius narrowing his eye suspiciously. Good.

' They got dragged away by a group of fans, ' said Hugo, and Lily rolled her eyes.' As if they couldn't have wriggled out of it,'drawled Lily, flicking her dark red hair with one swift move. 'But no, why should our _holy_ brothers say no to female attention? Prats, all of them.' 'There's nothing new about that, 'laughed Teddy, shaking his head.

' Anyway-Rosie, where on earth did _you_ escape to?' piped in Hugo; Lily and he were clearly struggling to conceal their grins. 'Yeah Rosie, it took you _and_ Scorpius long enough.' said Lily, batting her eyelashes as innocently as she could. 'We went for a brief peek at the Shrieking Shack, if you must know,' Rose replied shortly, and her back stiffened. And when the two Third-Years, exchanged sceptical looks, she added, 'Nothing else.'

 **A/N: *sighs* This was such a horrible chapter that I regret having to post it, but... I haven't got any other ideas and nobody's actually giving me any reviews, so...*face falls dramatically***

 **Besides not being a good enough chapter, it had some parts which were really trick for me to write, like THE KISS. I _am_ really bad at these kind of scenes, you know, but there was no point beating around the bush, and better sooner than later... So here we are.**

 **My exams are _finally_ over and that is one of the reasons I felt energetic enough to post this chapter.**

 **All of you who have read this chapter, I'm now resorting to _begging_ for reviews. Please _, please_ , in the name of humanity and compassion, leave some reviews. Without them, this whole things seems pointless and I kind of start losing my steam. I'm passionate about writing, but I can't get better if nobody tells me _what_ I'm not doing the write way. Just tell me what you thought about this and I'll be happy.**

 **Who knows, I might even post the next chapter next Saturday?**

 **So, yeah, that's it.**

 **Till next time~ S**


	17. Chapter 17: Surprise!

**Disclaimer :Everything belongs to JKR**.

 **Yesterday, I checked my e-mail after almost a month, expecting nothing but boring Quora notifications in the inbox, and then-I froze. Eight FanFiction Notifications. Five of them actual reviews**.

 **Hoping that this wasn't some bizarre dream, I clicked on each one of them, reading and re-reading each with utter disbelief.**

 **All of the reviews were overwhelming and, guys, I can't really describe what they meant to me. You all seriously are the best!**

 **And yes, as one of you rightly pointed out, my spelling and grammatical errors never fail to surprise my own self. Seriously, it requires a lot of stupidity to type 'write' instead of 'right', and I seem to have that particular thing in plenty.Jokes aside, I promise I'll try my best to remove any such errors.**

 **So anyway, here's an early New Year present from me!**

 **This is a Scorpius' POV.**

Out-Of-Bounds (A Scorpius/Rose FanFiction )

Chapter 17: Surprise!

Being in the Slytherin Common Room _really sucked_ sometimes. Like when you

kissed your best friend's favourite cousin a day before, and by _Merlin's_ grace, she didn't even think of _glancing_ in your direction at breakfast, lunch, dinner _and_ the Prefects' Meet.

All Scorpius wanted now was a warm, relaxing fire and comfy armchair to sink in and sleep away. All he actually _got_ was a damp, cold and sullen Common Room with Merlin-knew-how-much green lighting literally _everywhere._ And yeah, a rather annoying dance of the Giant Squid that was visible through the huge glass pane, if that could be considered a saving grace.

Even talking to Albus felt like too much of effort, and that was saying something.

Scorpius loosened his green-and-silver tie even more than he had already and sighed heavily. Maybe that was too much of noise, because Albus, who was engrossed in his Transfiguration homework beside him, looked up with a rather bewildered expression, pursed his lips a bit and returned to his work. _That felt good._

Scorpius sighed again, this time even more heavily, and suppressed a grin as he saw Albus look at him wildly, his stubbornly messy jet-black hair granting him an even wilder look. The latter rolled his eyes and resumed scratching away on his roll of parchment. _Things are just getting warmed,_ thought Scorpius trying his best not to burst out laughing. Disturbing Albus again _might_ take things too far, but his best friend's comic expressions would be _totally_ worth it. Or at least that's what he _thought._

He drew so deep a breath that his chest was puffed out, and sighed as loudly as he could, eagerly waiting for Albus to look at him.

This time, however, Albus lay down his quill quite steadily on the table-top, and slowly lifted his head to look straight into Scorpius' grey eyes. And the instant he did this, Scorpius knew that he had crossed the line.

'What do you _want_ , Scorp?' he said quietly, his brilliant green eyes suddenly gone cold. 'Nothing.' mumbled Scorpius.

'You _do_ realise that I'm _working_ right here, I'm assuming?'

'Yeah.'

'Then stop disturbing me!' snapped Albus irritably, once again picking up his quill. 'And if you aren't able to stop sighing and making these weird noises, for the sake of _Salazar_ go somewhere else!' 'Fine!' spat Scorpius, getting up rather roughly. 'If my best mate can't stand me being with him, then what's the big deal? You know what, Al? I'll just try to keep out of your sight from now on, alright?'

'What's _wrong_ with you, Scorp?' Albus said exasperatedly. 'All I asked you to do was not disturb me while I'm doing my schoolwork. Why are you getting so worked up about this?' He paused, frowned again and then continued, 'You haven't been the same since you got back from Hogsmead yesterday...Anything wrong?'

Scorpius clenched his fists inside his robe pockets, bit his lip and replied through gritted teeth, 'Nope.'

'Then stop being such a drama queen!'

'I'll see you around, Al.' Scorpius said shortly, ruffling his white-blonde hair as he headed out of the Common Room. 'Where are you headed to, anyway?' Albus shouted out after him.

'The library!' shouted back Scorpius

'The library closes at 8.' commented Albus, almost patronizingly. 'And it's almost past curfew, you're not even allowed to be out of the Common Room right now.' 'It's my problem, not _yours_ , so don't bother!' Scorpius said loudly, once more facing Albus. 'And besides, _you_ are actually no one to lecture me about rules and stuff!'

'Fine, just go then!' snapped Albus, glaring at Scorpius.

'I was just on my way until you stopped me, in case you didn't notice.'

'No one's stopping you now, in case _you_ didn't notice, so _go_!'

'Fine!' spat Scorpius, stamped his foot and turned to leave, fuming. A small, rational part of his head reminded him that all eyes in the sparsely populated Slytherin Common Room had been on the two of them all this time.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He had little idea where he was actually headed to, completely absorbed as he was in the squabble he had picked up with Albus, and utterly conflicting thoughts about Rose.

 _Everytime we take a step forward, she just pushes me away. That kiss...what did she mean by it?What does she even want? Why does she keep doing this to me?What is her_ problem

 _But hey, even if_ she _becomes okay with all of this, am_ I _ready to risk losing the one relationship that has gotten me through Hogwarts? Am_ I _ready to have Albus break our friendship for dating his favourite cousin, about whom he is as protective, if not more, as his own sister_?

Frustrated, he stomped towards the door of a nearby classroom and kicked it angrily, as hard as he could. There was a sharp cry of shock from within the classroom, while Scorpius collapsed to the ground, stroking his foot to recover from the pain of having crashed against a bronze door, wincing.

Whoever was inside the classroom opened the door, declaring quite shrilly, ' _What_ _in the name of Gryffindor do you think you--'_ The girl stopped speaking suddenly, just as Scorpius stood up unsteadily on his feet again, his face mirrorring the look of disbelief on hers.

It was Rose.

She froze, her warm, blue eyes as wide with shock as tennis balls, and her grip on a battered old book she was carrying slackened, and then became firmer,like she was clenching her fists. The colour rose in her freckled face, as both of them cried together, ' _What are you doing here?'_

'You go first.' mumbled Scorpius.

'I'm out here for Prefect Patrol, but it got really boring after a while, so I was just sitting in this room, reading.' she said coolly, though her face was still very red. 'And where's your Patrol Partner, what's his name, again-Dharth or something-?' said Scorpius, his voice sharper than he intended it to sound.

' _Sidharth,'_ said Rose. 'The poor guy's got loads of stuff to study for tomorrow's Charms test, so he _begged_ me to go on my own.' ' _You_ know a lot about him.' 'It's not highly unusual for a Prefect to know his or her Patrol Partner's name!' cried Rose, her voice very high-pitched.

 _She does have a fair point, though. What's wrong with me? Why can't I just keep calm?_

'Oh yeah, right,' mumbled Scorpius, awkwardly rubbing the nape of his neck.

'Anyway, what are _you_ doing here? It's past curfew and _no one's_ supposed to be out of their dorms right now!' said Rose, crossing her arms with a very bossy demeanour. Scorpius clenched his jaw and whispered, 'I don't need _you_ to boss me around, Weasley.'

Rose squirmed a little at the sound of 'Weasley', but recovered immediately and said, ' It's my _duty_ to boss you around right now, _Malfoy,_ because you're going against rules.'

'That's funny, coming from a girl who broke the rules when they were too inconvenient for her!'

'The only time I broke the rules was when I wanted to save you and Albus from getting into trouble!' cried Rose, flushing deeply. 'Don't,' said Scorpius dangerously, looking straight into her blue eyes, ' _Don't_ make it sound like you actually _care_ about me.'

There was a pause, not an awkward one ,but it was heavy.

'How do you know that I don't care about you?' asked Rose, and her voice was much softer, much gentler, much more soothing than ever. Her eyes were glistening, and she kept biting her pink lips. _Merlin, how beautiful could she get?_ 'I know because kissing a guy like _you_ did and then completely ignoring him like nothing even happened isn't what I call a sign of caring for that guy!' The little self-control he had was edging away from him.

'Ugh, Scorpius, can't you understand _why_ I'm doing all of this?!' asked Rose, and she sounded close to tears. 'No, and that's why I'm asking you, Rose. Why are you doing this to me?'

Rose stamped her feet as if frustrated, made complicated hand motions with her fists, and answered, 'Because-because I'm scared about all the consequences! My family, and I'm damn sure that yours too, won't get all chummy about this! Forget the rest of the family, have you ever wondered how mad _Albus_ will get if he gets know about this? You're his best friend Scorp, aren't _you_ afraid that I might just destroy your most prized friendship?'

'Yes, I do feel scared,' Scorpius said softly, edging towards Rose and twirling a red curl of hers in his fingers, 'But that fear isn't enough to make me not feel restless whenever I think about you.'

He was leaning in with every passsing moment, and Rose just stood where she was, as if glued to the ground, breathing fast and unsteadily. He stopped a centimetre away from her nose, and breathed out, with a ghost of his typical Malfoy smirk, 'Rose Weasley, you have driven me completely insane.' Rose blushed so deeply that her freckles almost weren't visible.

His hand slid into her mane of flaming red hair, and the next moment, his blood-red lips were crushing fiercely into hers, while she kissed him back readily. A jolt of satisfaction and pleasure shot through him, and he pulled her even closer to himself, melting into her deliciously familiar warmth. After almost a minute, Rose moaned and pulled out of the kiss, panting and almost-smiling at the same time.

'So we really don't have to care about how _really_ mad everyone is going to be?' she asked, her brow furrowed.

'For now, certainly no,' said Scorpius, almost impatiently, once more silencing her with a kiss, 'Why do you have to ruin the perfect moment?'

'I take after my Dad, I guess,' she replied, smiling and arching into him.

But after that, there were no interruptions.

 **A/N: Phew, things just got really intense, didn't they, now?**

 **Personally,this chapter was really fun to write for me, but hard too ,you know , around those cheesy moments. God knows how many times typed, erased and re-typed them!**

 **I've checked for spelling errors carefully this time, and I really hope that this chapter was upto your expectations!**

 **So, yeah, that's it , leave some reviews(my New Year Present) and Happy New Year in advance!**

 **PS: Thanks for your _lovely_ reviews, again. I can't thank you all enough, _really._**

 **Sayonara!**


	18. Chapter 18: Lion Vs Badger

**Disclaimer** **: JKR owns the HP franchise.**

 **Excuses later... here's the next chapter!**

 **This is a Rose POV.**

Out-Of-Bounds (A Harry Potter FanFiction)

Chapter 18: Lion Vs Badger

Rose stared unblinkingly at the mess of bandages lying on the Hospital bed. Beside her stood Hugo, Lily and Palak Thomas, all either chewing their nails feverishly, or wiping the unusual amount of sweat that had popped on their foreheads.

There was sound of quick footsteps and heated argument, and a second later, Madame Pomfrey and Professor Longbottom grimly entered the Hospital Wing, with James and Fred at heel. As they neared the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, James quickened his pace to catch up with Madame Pomfrey and Rose heard him pleading with ill-disguised inpatience, 'If you could just-I don't know-temporarily fix Ben for tomorrow's match-'

'Mr. Mc.Laggen cannot be- as you put it- _temporarily fixed_ , as I have told you countless times, Mr. Potter. 'snapped Madame Pomfrey, settling down various potions on the small table beside the Hospital bed. 'Crack as huge as that in his skull- poor boy's lucky to be alive!' 'But the match is _tomorrow!_ We can't lose a Chaser like that for our first match!' interjected Fred, coming to his best friend's aid.

Before Madame Pomfrey could retort again, Professor Longbottom cleared his throat loudly and said in a cool voice, 'We understand very well, Madame Pomfrey. If Mr. Mc.Laggen cannot be healed by tomorrow, then I guess that is the way that things are. _No_ more arguments. 'His eyes rested specifically on Fred and James, who, despite their troubled expressions, nodded and fell silent.

'Now, I request all of you to leave this room quietly- I have a few things to discuss with Madame Pomfrey about this unfortunate accident, we'll have to inform his parents... 'continued Professor, his face very pale and serious. 'James, I leave it to your judgement to decide who shall be Benedict's substitute for the match tomorrow. ' 'Of course, Professor Longbottom, 'replied James, nodding his head.

Then the rest of the team wordlessly followed him out of the Hospital Wing.

'Ben won't be playing tomorrow. ' said James in a hollow voice, while they were on their way back to the Common Room.

'We figured out that much pretty much ourselves,' said Lily bitterly. James opened his mouth as if to argue, and then shut it, as if he had no energy to do so. A tensed, nervous silence followed, only to be disturbed by the sound of their heavy footsteps. Even Fred, who was an expert at lighting up any conversation,was at a loss of what to say.

Rose herself couldn't shake off the sinking feeling from the pit of her stomach. Ben Mc.Laggen was a far more brilliant Chaser than Hugo or her, and the one who scored most of the goals for Gryffindor in almost every match. Without him, the team morale would definitely not be very high, even if the match was against Hufflepuff.

Mostly to break the heavy silence, Rose took a deep breath and asked, with an attempt at a somewhat relaxed tone, 'Who are we going to use as a substitute tomorrow, anyway? ' 'Well, we can't organise try-outs at the moment, seeing as the match is _tomorrow_ , so I guess we'll have to go with that bloke who flew the second-best at Chaser Try-Outs in September. ' said James, shrugging. 'Wasn't that your cousin, Palak? I keep forgetting his name. '

'Yeah- Sidharth, 'said Palak Thomas, Beater. 'But I don't know if he'll do any good to the team. I mean, he's not even flown once since the Try-Outs.' 'Don't have a choice, do we?' Fred sighed. 'Anyway, Palak, inform him that he'll be playing as Chaser tomorrow. ' said James offhandedly. 'I don't think I can talk to anyone right now. ' 'Alright... but what about his uniform? There's no chance Ben's will fit him! '

'I can help you with that, 'piped up Rose reassuringly. Palak raised her eyebrows, half-smiled, half-smirked and said, 'Alright, then let's speed up and get to him fast. I just hope Sid doesn't have a heart attack. '

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sidharth Mehta was an awkwardly tall and lanky boy with light brown skin. He had spiky brown hair, a firm jawline and pretty, amber eyes dripping with curiosity. Presently, he seemed to be involved in a debate with his twin sister, Payal Mehta in the Gryffindor Common Room. Palak and Rose walked upto him, Palak clutching Ben's Quidditch robes.

As soon as Sidharth spotted them, he froze, and his eyes became unfocused. Perhaps noticing her brother's change of expression, Payal turned sharply, and spotting Rose, her expression cleared, a grin spread on her face and she said cheerfully, 'Hi Rose!' 'Hi Payal, 'said Rose, smiling.' Hi Sidharth. '

Sidharth seemed to have recovered from his dazed state, and his usually determined and cheerful demeanour was back. ' Hi Rose,' he almost blurted, grinning from ear-to-ear. 'Any news about Prefect Patrol? It was nice of you to cover for me the other night.'

Rose blushed, thinking about the events of 'the other night', tucked some loose hair behind her ears and said, 'No problem about that. But that' s not what I came to talk to you about. ' Sidharth frowned in confusion. 'So...?'

'You know about the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match tomorrow, right? 'asked Rose.' Well... Palak never lets us forget about that, does she, Payal? ' Rose and Payal giggled, and Palak aimed a blow at her Sidharth, scowling. 'You just _wait_ , Sidharth, and you won' t be laughing anymore.' 'What d' you mean? 'inquired the latter, his smile fading.

'Um, actually, one of our Chasers, Ben Mc.Laggen, he had an accident at practice today and won't be able to play tomorrow...And as you performed second-best to Hugo at Chaser Try-Outs, you' ll have to play as Chaser tomorrow. '

' _What?!'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rose just couldn't get her hands to stuff any breakfast into her mouth.

She just sat and stared at her bowl of porridge, pale-faced and nauseous. Her cousins Roxy and Dominique sat on either side of her, both urging her to have some more. 'Big match ahead, Rosie. You' ll be needing _tonnes_ of energy! ' said Roxy, buttering some toast and placing it in Rose' s plate. 'Roxy's right, Rose,' said Dominique, seriously. 'I mean, no one else is getting as stressed as you- atleast not to the point of skipping breakfast- and, and it' s just a match. What's the _worst_ that could happen? '

Rose stared at her part-Veela cousi incredulously, shook her head multiple times, and resumed staring at her porridge.

'Rose! 'exclaimed a voicd behind her, a smooth, cool drawl that caused her stomach to lurch dangerously. Smiling slightly, she turned to find herself looking at Scorpius and Albus, both giving her bright grins.' You look awful. 'said Albus, observing her closely.' And I see you haven't touched your porridge. ' added Scorpius.

' Oh _please,_ 'said Rose. 'Both of you are _nobodies_ to lecture me about pre-game nerves. Did you not have a look at your _own_ faces before the Ravenclaw match?' 'There' s the Rose I know and love. ' smiled Albus.' Don't worry, you'll be amazing!' 'I' m not that worried about _myself_ , Al.' mumbled Rose, checking if Sidharth was out of earshot.'It's about Sidharth-'

'What about him? ' interjected Scorpius, his voice razor-sharp.

Rose resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

'He' s never been at any of our practice sessions.. Palak says he hasn't flown once since the start of September!And Ben's not here... Oh _Merlin..._ This is going to be disaster! 'She paused suddenly, noticing that the rest of her teammates were rising from their seats, and her insides lurched with discomfort.

' Don't be scared, Rosie, you'll be fine! 'said Albus enthusiastically. 'Best of luck!'

'Yeah, Hufflepuff doesn't stand a _chance_. 'drawled Scorpius, with a genuine smile.' Best of luck, Rose.'

And though certainly not on top of the world, the last line _definitely_ made her feel _way_ better.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

'MacMillan, Scott, Wing, Tess, Rout, Bell aaaaaaaaaaand White for Hufflepuff!' Felix Jordan's voice echoed across the Quidditch stadium. Seven players in canary yellow robes on broomsticks flew once across the stadium in queue, coming to a halt near the centre. Countless roars of _'Go Hufflepuff! '_ spread in all directions from the Hufflepuffs, accompanied by deafening applause.

Once the stadium had quietened somewhat, Jordan's voice blared on the microphone, with even more enthusiasm, 'Potter, Weasley, Weasley, Mehta, Weasley, Thomas aaaaaaaaaand Potter for Gryffindor!'

Rose kicked off from the ground hard a second after James, with Hugo and Sidharth, Fred and Palak, and finally, Lily following her one-after-the-other. Once more, cheers and claps saturated the atmosphere, this time from the Gryffindors. As the Gryffindor team, in their crimson-and-golden robes, completed their majestic round across the stadium, Rose could make out two tiny dots of green-and-silver amongst the swarm of cheering Gryffindors. Her stomach gave a jolt, and lshe shook herself and turned her attention back to the game.

The two Captains, Abby MacMillan and James shook hands firmly, their brows tensed, and Rose could make Madame Hooch's pre-game warning of, 'Now I want a clean game from _both_ of you. ' The two teams assumed their positions, Madame Hooch's whistle was heard and the match sprang into action.

Hugo sped forward and grabbed the Quaffle, dodging just in time to avoid a Bludger and accelerating towards the goalpost. He had two Hufflepuff Chasers at tail- Rowell Wing and Gary Tess, making it almost impossible for him to pass to Rose or Sidharth.

Out of the blue, another Bludger came rumbling towards them, causing the two Hufflepuff Chasers to duck and break up their block. At the opposite end of the stadium, Rose saw Fred hi-fiving Palak Thomas.

It happened very suddenly. Hugo passed to Rose, Rose to Sidharth, and just as the Hufflepuff Keeper dived to block what he _presumed_ to be Sidharth's shot, Sidharth passed the ball to Hugo, who sent it flying through the goalpost.

A motley of cheers, applause, whistles and screams from the Gryffindors. Jordan jumped in his seat(beside a _mildly_ disapproving Professor Longbottom) and echoed, '--HE SCORES! First goal of the match, ladies and gentlemen, from the Gryffindors! Quite a bit of a clever job from Mehta, I must say I'm impressed-' All the rest of his words were drowned in a sea of 'BOOOOO! 's from the Hufflepuff.

'Good job, Hugo! 'shouted Rose. 'And you too, Sidharth! 'she added. Sidharth grinned and almost slid of the end of his broomstick, reddening.

Game was back in action- the Quaffle was now in Katy Scott's possession, who passed it to Tess. Rose flew straight at him, blocking his way and causing him to lose balance and drop the Quaffle.A Bludger zoomed past her elbow, but too late-Sidharth had clutched the ball, and was already hurtling past Scott and Wing. This time, he flew straight forward and, most probably without thinking, threw the Quaffle at the left goalpost.

The Keeper soared fast across the other two goalposts and caught it an inch from earning Gryffindor ten more points. Eardrum-tearing hurrahs from the Hufflepuffs. A string of curses from Jordan(that resulted in Neville snatching the mic away from him) and the Gryffindors in general.

Hugo punched the air in frustration, and Rose was just about to catch up with Sidharth and tell him off, when the usual voice on the mic shouted, 'Oh look! Gordon White is speeding towards the Gryffindor goalposts. Looks like he's spotted the Snitch! '

Rose searched the stadium frantically for Lily, and sure enough, she seemed to have fallen behind in Seeking this time. The Hufflepuff Seeker, White was rushing behind what Rose was sure was a golden blur, with Lily quickly catching pace with him. The two Seekers swept past their teammates like unstoppable winds-one hand steadying the broom, the other extended to the maximum of its ability.

One of the Hufflepuff Beaters, Richard Bell, aimed a Bludger precisely at Lily's head. The latter dived a few metres to dodge it, and the monster ball hit the tail of White's broomstick instead, sending him spiralling in the opposite direction.

Lily emerged from her dive a moment later, and accelerated further, now visible just as a large crimson blur. Five seconds later, she braked suddenly, sliding off the broomstick with one fist clenched, and the other holding onto the Nimbus 2016 for dear life. James scurried to her rescue and helped her onto her broom, and the next moment, the Gryffindor Captain's cries of, 'SHE'S GOT THE SNITCH! ' were all one could hear. Madame Hooch's whistle was heard, and Jordan joined into James' chorus, resounding, 'Lily Potter catches the Snitch and awards Gryffindor a hundred and fifty points! Gryffindor wins with a score of a hundred and sixty points, with no points from Hufflepuff! I can't believe it, the girl's done it again! Not hard to believe, anyway, genes like hers-'

But Rose was hardly listening to anything this imperfect commentator had to see. The entire team had raced towards Lily and James, and the gigantic group hug could not wait till everone had their feet on the ground. 'Lions forever! ' shouted Fred, and the others chorused his words. Perhaps the air was safer for them, though, for they couldn't see an inch on ground they could land on, given the mob of cheering Gryffindors below.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

'Hey, what's wrong? 'asked Rose, narrowing her warm, blue eyes at Sidharth, as he folded his Quidditch neatly, his face a little fallen. 'Wrong? Nothing's wrong! Why would it be? I mean, we won, didn't we? ' he rang airily, not meeting her eyes.

'Are you thinking about that shot you missed? 'asked Rose cautiously. Sidharth froze, and his face darkened somewhat. Then he smiled again, humorlessly. 'Are you sure you're not a Legilimens? 'he asked with a small smile.

'Stop avoiding my question, Sid. '

'Alright, alright, 'he replied, raising his hands slightly in a gesture of surrender. 'Yes, I was thinking about that. ' 'Well, don't, then! ' said Rose, firmly. 'It's almost impossible for someone to not think about a failure when its memories are that fresh, Rose, 'he replied, paused then continued, 'I guess I just wanted to not mess up something so many people think is cool. '

'And you didn't mess it up! ' said Rose. Sometimes, sugar-coating things was important. 'Trust me, you were brilliant. And I don't lie-' - _Usually._ Sidharth's pretty, amber eyes sparkled with gratitude, his cheeks became a little pink and he gave her a squeeze. 'Thanks a lot, Rose. That means a lot to me, coming from you. ' He paused, and looked at her carefully, as if scrutinising every facial feature. 'Also, you look prettier than usual in braids. '

Then, he left the dressing room, leaving Rose alone to deal with another jolt in her stomach.

 **A/N: Okay, so here go my excuses...**

 **Final Exams! And what a nightmare they were, too. I mean,** **this time, I broke _all_ my procrastinating records. And results, they've become regular characters in my dreams now-a-nights.**

 **Also, I was on vacation to a bunch of mesmerising places with my family, so of course, this poor fanfic had to suffer.**

 **However, now that my holidays have begun and I'm at home, I think i might be able to come up with chapters on a more regular basis. But as always, I can't gurantee anything, sorry about that. _Really._**

 **Coming back to this chapter. As I've returned here after more than two months, I kind lost my touch with this story and writing in general. So I'm sure that most of this chapter is will be perceived as _sloppy_ , and _maybe_ the direction of the story may not be that exciting. Sorry for all that too. _Really._**

 **I'd absolutely love any reviews-negative _or_ positive- as recognising mistakes is an essential part of learning. Feel free to review and express your thoughts!**

 **So, yeah, that's it and Sayonara!**

 **Till next time ~Shehjaar**


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